Family Trees
by xbekkarocksx
Summary: Harry makes a shocking discovery when he traces back his family trees. Who is this myserious Jane? And where is she now? Harry goes on a journey to find his long-lost twin sister. This is my best fanfic yet. R&R!
1. The Prophecy

The house was unusually tidy

**Chapter 1: The Prophecy**

The house was unusually tidy. Flames danced in the fireplace, and the wooden coffee table gleamed. James Potter was attempting to flatten his dark hair in the hall mirror. Lily Potter was upstairs, trying to prevent Harry from throwing up over her new skirt. She carried her son down the stairs, stroking the back of his head and murmuring, "Ssh, ssh." She grinned at the sight of her husband arranging his hair in the mirror. He looked up as she came down the stairs.

"Is Jane asleep?" he asked. Lily nodded. James carefully took Harry from her arms and grinned down at the 1-year-old.

"He should be here in a minute." Lily said, looking at the front door. "Ok." James replied, and wandered into the living room. Lily perched on the sofa, drumming her fingers on her knee absent-mindedly. James paced back and forth, from window to bookshelf, rocking Harry in his arms.

The clock struck twelve and the bells in the clock tower rang solemnly. There was a loud crack and a knock at the door. Lily jumped up and hurried back into the hall. Subtly, she drew her wand and held it loosely in her right hand. Then she opened the wooden door and blinked rather rapidly.

A wizard was standing on the front step. He looked strangely illuminated against the dark, stormy night. He was wearing long robes which fluttered against his ankles in the howling wind, and his wispy hair was dancing on his head.

"Good evening, Albus." Lily said, a little nervously, stuffing her wand back into her pocket. She opened the door wider and stepped back to let Dumbledore in. James was standing in the hall, still holding Harry, and he smiled at Dumbledore.

"Evening, Dumbledore." He smiled.

"Good evening." Dumbledore replied politely. They stood in the hall a while.

"Oh, sorry." Lily said hurriedly. "Um …come and sit down." Dumbledore followed the couple into the living room.

"Would you like a drink?" Lily asked nervously.

"That would be lovely, thank you." Dumbledore replied. "I don't suppose you have any oak-matured mead? I am rather partial to it."

"Of course!" Lily said, and hurried from the room to get the drinks. Dumbledore and James were left standing in the living room. Harry gurgled happily and Dumbledore broke into a smile.

"Harry is looking well." He remarked. "And how is Jane?"

"Oh, she's fine." James replied. "She's asleep. Harry wouldn't go, though. To sleep, I mean." He explained.

Lily came flustering back into the room, preceded by three glasses of mead hovering in the air. Lily lowered her wand and the glasses descended onto the table. One of them splashed a little on the table. Lily coughed nervously and took her glass.

"So." Dumbledore began, after a sip of mead. "I believe I told you that I had some …bad news."

James and Lily nodded. They were all too aware of this fact.

"Well, no doubt you have been wondering …" Dumbledore remarked. "Anyway. I believe you took Divination, Lily?"

"For OWLs, yes." Lily said.

"So you are aware of prophecies?" Dumbledore asked.

Lily nodded. "They're predictions, right?"

Dumbledore nodded and took another sip of mead. "Well, a prophecy has been made, to me, about Lord Voldemort."

Lily winced slightly and James paused in his rocking of baby Harry.

"The prophecy talked of someone who had the power to overthrow the Dark Lord." Dumbledore continued calmly. "A Death Eater …you know who they are, I presume?"

Lily and James nodded and exchanged glances. What did this have to do with them?

"Where was I?" Dumbledore trailed off for a second. Then he pulled himself together. "Yes, a Death Eater overheard this prophecy, and …I am reliably informed that he reported back to his master. Lord Voldemort himself."

Lily and James were ready this time, and barely reacted to the name.

"So. Yes. That is the problem." Dumbledore finished. There was a confused pause. Then Lily spoke up nervously.

"I …sorry, but …what does this have to do with us?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh, did I not say?" Dumbledore asked matter-of-factly. "The prophecy spoke of a boy born at the end of June. Lord Voldemort has jumped to the conclusion that this means Harry."

There was a deathly silence. Lily trembled and James held Harry a little tighter in his arms.

"S …so what happens now?" James asked. "Is he going to come?"

Dumbledore looked grave. "I assume that he will want to get rid of this danger. We shall have to place protection on this house."

James looked worried. "_Is_ there a protection that can keep You-Know-Who out?"

"I believe there is." Dumbledore replied. "It is called the Fidelius Charm. Have you heard of it?"

James shook his head but Lily looked thoughtful. Dumbledore went on anyway.

"The Fidelius Charm involves some very complex magic, but I think I can do it. When completed, only the Secret Keeper can give away the location of your whereabouts. Otherwise, Lord Voldemort would never be able to find Harry." Dumbledore explained. "Is there anyone you would have in mind for Secret Keeper?"

"Sirius." James said immediately. Dumbledore turned his gaze to Lily enquiringly. Lily nodded.

"How long will it take for this Fidelius Charm?" she asked.

"It should only take a couple of days." Dumbledore replied. "I shall start tomorrow morning."

"Thank you." Lily said quietly. "I …what if it doesn't work?"

Dumbledore looked grave again. "I would advise that you set your affairs in order."

Lily and James looked at each other.

"Well. I shall be going now." Dumbledore announced, rising from his seat. "I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news."

"No, thank you for telling us." James said, and they walked out to the hall.

"One more thing." Dumbledore said. "James, may I borrow the Cloak?"

"'Course!" James said quickly. He hurried upstairs. They could hear footsteps walking around above. A while later, he came back down again, minus Harry. He handed Dumbledore the silvery cloak.

"Keep it as long as you want." James said generously.

"Well, thank you for your time." Dumbledore said. Lily smiled at him before opening the door. The couple waved at him as he Disapparated into the persisting rain. Lily shut the door and leaned back on the wall.

"How did this happen?" she whispered despairingly. James shook his head with his eyes closed, suddenly looking weary.


	2. The Fidelius Charm

Lily didn't return to her bedroom that night

**The Fidelius Charm**

**Oops. Got the date wrong last chapter. I meant the end of JULY, not June. Soz!**

Lily didn't return to her bedroom that night. She sat awake in the children's room, watching over Harry. He looked so innocent, just lying there. Why would anyone want to harm him? He was no danger to anyone. If it wasn't for Dumbledore …Lily couldn't bear the thought of her little boy being harmed.

She stretched out a hand and stroked Harry's cheek softly. He slept on. Lily wondered what he was dreaming about. What did babies dream about? Lily gave a small sigh. Her son wasn't even one yet, and he was already set to have a troubled life.

The silence was suddenly punctured by a baby's cry. Lily looked over at her son, but it wasn't Harry who had cried out. It was Jane. Lily scooped up the screaming girl in her arms. "Ssh." She soothed. What would happen to Jane if …if the Fidelius Charm didn't work? You-Know-Who was famous for destroying anyone in his path.

Lily soothed Jane back to sleep, and then crept out of the room, stealing one last look at her adorable baby son before gently closing the door. Then she headed into her husband's room. James was sitting crossed-legged on the bed, his head buried in his hands. He was breathing deeply and Lily knew that he had the same thoughts running through his mind as she had had.

"James." She said softly. James looked up abruptly. His eyes were dull and despairing. He spared Lily a small smile.

"James, I had a thought. If …if it doesn't work then what will happen to Jane?" Lily asked, voicing her worries.

James' face fell even further. "She'll be fine." He said. "Fine."

Lily bit her lip to stop herself from replying. She knew that James was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince her.

The next morning, Lily and James were both awake and dressed by the time the sun rose. They each had bags under their eyes as neither had got any sleep. Jane and Harry also woke early, as though they knew something was happening.

Lily was sitting in the living room, reading "Babitty Rabitty" to the enthralled Harry and Jane. James was sitting on the stairs in the hall, watching the front door impatiently.

At 8:00am, there was a familiar crack and a knock on the door. James threw it open without bothering to draw his wand. Lily came hurrying after him, trying to balance Harry and Jane in her arms. Dumbledore stepped into the house.

"Good morning." He said. "I hope you had a pleasant sleep?"

Neither Lily nor James answered.

"Good." Said Dumbledore, as though he had received a reply. "Now, may I borrow your living room?" he asked, waving a thick book called _Anciente Protecktive Spelles_. James nodded and silently gestured towards the living room. Dumbledore nodded appreciatively and sat down in the middle of the floor, opening the book in front of him to a page entitled _The Fidelius Charme._ Lily and James watched him for a few minutes as he twirled his wand and muttered under his breath. Then they left him to it.

Lily sat down in the kitchen and sat Jane and Harry on the table, where they sat happily, kicking their legs. James strolled over to the calendar in the kitchen and read it, for want of something else to do.

"I forgot!" He cried. "It's the twins' birthday in two weeks."

Lily looked up sharply. "Oh …yes, it is, isn't it? Will the twins still be able to have a party, d'you reckon?"

James shrugged. "It can't hurt to invite a few people, can it?" he asked.

Lily nodded. James sighed and turned away from the calendar. For a minute he stood still, watching Lily dangling her wand tantalisingly out of reach of the twins grasping hands. Then he was startled by a knock on the door.

Harry and Jane began to cry. They had sensed the change in the atmosphere. Lily took them in her arms. "Ssh, it's ok!" she whispered, but she looked at James fearfully. James walked out into the hallway. He could see Dumbledore still sitting on the floor, oblivious to the world around him.

James drew his wand and pointed it at the door. Taking a deep breath and thinking of his family, he threw open the door and pointed his wand at the man standing there.

"It's nice to see you, too." The man said, with a smile. James sighed with relief and thrust his wand back into his pocket.

"Sorry, Padfoot." He said, sheepishly. Sirius waved a hand casually.

"Don't worry. I …heard the news." Sirius said, suddenly serious. He rocked backwards and forwards on his toes.

James nodded, and found he couldn't speak for the lump in his throat. There was a heavy silence.

"Well, come in then." James said, forcing a smile. "Dumbledore's here, so we have to be quiet."

Sirius nodded. "I know." He told James. "Dumbledore invited me. He says he needs me 'cos I'm your …Secret Keeper or something."

"Oh!" James said, as realisation dawned. "Well, he's in there. I don't know when he wants you." James pointed into the living room which was now full of a strange purple hue. Sirius made a face and then entered the room. James watched him turned purple. It should have been funny and on any other day it would have been. Not today, though.

James went back into the kitchen, where Lily was sitting in the same position as he had left her. She looked up sharply as he entered the room and James saw that she had her wand out.

"It was only Padfoot." James answered to her unspoken question. Lily gave a trembly grin and released her firm grip on Harry's arm.

The seconds seemed like minutes. James watched the minute hand move, painfully slowly, around the clock face. After what seemed like days, Dumbledore and Sirius walked into the kitchen. Sirius was grinning as usual, and Dumbledore's eyes twinkled again.

"It worked." He told them. "We'll be going now."

Lily stood up and threw her arms around Dumbledore, and gave Sirius a grateful look. "Thank you." She whispered, her voice full of emotion.

There were tears in Dumbledore's eyes as he returned her smile. "Well, I hope to see you soon. You …it would be best if you didn't leave the house." Dumbledore warned them. Lily nodded knowingly, and James did too, although he looked a little disappointed.

"Oh, one more thing!" Lily cried, as Dumbledore turned to leave. "This might sound silly but …can the twins still have a birthday party?"

Dumbledore twirled a strand of his beard thoughtfully. "I don't think so. Well …only your neighbours can come. They will have noticed that your house has suddenly disappeared." He replied. "But that's all. Not …Sirius can't come, I'm afraid."

Lily and James were disappointed, but this was a small price to pay for Harry's life. They would do anything for him.


	3. The Birthday Party

Happy Birthday

**Happy Birthday!**

"That'll be Bathilda." Lily announced after a knock on the door. She jumped up from the sofa and opened the door. An ageing woman stood on the doorstep, carrying two wrapped parcels.

"Come in!" Lily smiled, shutting the door after Bathilda. They headed towards the living room, but were cut off by two miniature broomsticks zooming past. Jane giggled as she swept after her brother. Lily laughed and followed them into the living room, curling up on the sofa.

"Jane, Harry, come and see what Mrs Bagshot has for you!" she called. James herded the excited twins over to where Bathilda sat. Bathilda handed a blue-ribboned package to Harry, and a pink one to Jane, who dropped hers.

The twins struggled with the wrapping for five minutes, until James surreptitiously flicked his wand and the paper fell off, revealing two fluffy toys – a green dragon and a pink unicorn. Jane giggled and waved her unicorn about. Harry took his dragon in one chubby fist and crawled off with it; reappearing a moment later on his broom, still clutching the toy.

James chuckled. "He'll be a Quidditch player, that one." He stood up and ran after Harry.

"Thanks for the toys." Lily said to Bathilda.

"Oh, it's no trouble." Bathilda assured her. "Now, I think it's time for a picture, don't you?"

Lily groaned theatrically. "Oh, I never turn out well in pictures!"

Bathilda ignored her and took a camera from her handbag. "Say cheese!" she cried, as James and Harry ran past.

James collapsed down on the sofa, breathing heavily.

"You big kid!" Lily teased. James stuck his tongue out at her.

"Honestly, I don't know where they get the energy from." James remarked.

"They'll tire out soon." Lily assured him.

She was wrong. Forty-five minutes later, she, Harry and Bathilda had run out of things to talk about, and Harry was still zooming round the house in a dizzy, endless circle. Jane had made a pile of all her toys, and was sitting under a mountain of cuddly toys, clutching her doll which really moved and talked.

Lily stood up abruptly. "Right." She said. "Time for tea."

She scooped Jane up in her arms and walked into the kitchen, where the table was laid for five people. She lowered Jane into her high chair and, with a sweep of her wand; ready-made sandwiches and snacks flew from one of the cupboards onto the table.

"Yum, doesn't that look tasty?" James said cheerfully to Harry as he carried him in. Harry clapped his hands in agreement.

"Well, tuck in!" Lily said generously, and the eating began.

Twenty minutes later, most of the food had been demolished. Bathilda dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin and James tried to stifle a burp behind his hand. This did not go unnoticed by Lily, who rolled her eyes.

"Time for cake, I think." She said quickly. Jane gurgled as a cake in the shape of a large, wrapped present hovered onto the table. The candle flickered into life with another flick of Lily's wand.

James turned the lights out, so that the yellow flickering flame on the cake illuminated everyone's faces. Lily picked up Jane and held her so that her feet touched the table. Jane wobbled as she tried to stand. James did the same to Harry.

"All together now!" he cried, and the three adults burst into song.

"Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Jane and Harry,

Happy birthday to you!"

There was a flash of light as Bathilda clicked the shutter on her camera to capture the moment.

"Blow out the candle!" James said to Harry in a childish voice, demonstrating how to blow. "Go on, blow it out!"

Jane and Harry made little puffing motions. The candle barely flickered. James and Lily stood behind the twins and blew. The candle went out.

Harry began to cry and Jane tried to grab the wisp of smoke with one hand. James grimaced as he rocked Harry in his arms and patted his back. Lily flicked the lights back on and took a sharp knife from the kitchen drawer.

James put the twins back in their chairs. Lily held the knife ready to cut the cake. James placed his larger hand over hers and Lily smiled at him.

"Remember to make a wish!" Bathilda chirped. Lily laughed, and the couple pushed the knife deep into the cake. They stood with their eyes closed for a second, and, as James' hand tightened on Lily's, she knew that they were both wishing for the same thing.


	4. The Change

Lily yawned and turned the page in her novel

Lily yawned and turned the page in her novel. James was listening to the radio and squirming about on the sofa.

"Will you stop that?" Lily finally snapped.

"Sorry." James muttered. He sat still but took an elastic band from his pocket and started fiddling with it. Lily buried her head deeper in her book and tried to shut out the pinging noises. She couldn't.

"Cut it out!" Lily cried. James scowled.

"There's nothing to do, though!" he moaned. "If only I had my Cloak …"

"Well, you don't." Lily said matter-of-factly. "So get used to it."

James groaned and rolled his eyes. Then he got up and walked out of the room.

"Tell me if anything interesting happens!" he called over his shoulder. Lily grinned.

"Something interesting happened!" she called.

"Really?" James asked hopefully, sticking his head back round the door.

"Nope." Lily said without looking up from her book.

"Oh, ha ha. Hilarious." James said sarcastically. Lily smirked and turned the page again as James walked out.

"James? Lily?" A familiar voice called. Lily sat up in surprise.

"Hi, Sirius!" she cried. "Wait a second, I'll just get James. JAMES?"

"What?" James called from what sounded like the kitchen.

"Sirius is here!" she replied.

"Oh yeah, like I'm going to fall for that one. Nice try, Lily!" James shouted back.

"No, I'm deadly …Sirius." Lily said, trying not to laugh.

James came back into the living room, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. When he saw his best friend's head sticking out of the fireplace, he looked relieved.

"Hey, mate. What are you doing here?" James asked.

"I've been thinking …" Sirius began.

"Careful." James warned. Lily rolled her eyes at his bad joke, before realising that hers had been worse. She went back to her book and left the boys to their conversation.

"Anyway, I've been thinking and I really don't think it's a good idea making me Secret Keeper." Sirius explained.

The last two words caught Lily's ears and, reluctantly, she put away her book.

"Why not?" James was saying.

"Well, isn't it a bit obvious?" Sirius asked.

"Sirius, there's no one we trust more than you." Lily assured him.

"But that's the point!" Sirius cried. "Won't You-Know-Who expect you to choose me as your Secret Keeper?"

"I …well …" James couldn't think of a reply to this.

"And if they come after me …well, I'd never give you away: I'd rather die, but …well, they have ways of getting the truth out of people." Sirius said.

Lily's eyes filled with grateful tears as Sirius spoke. "James, he has a point." She admitted.

"But who else is there?" James asked. There was a long silence as the adults pondered this question.

"There's always Peter." Lily said eventually.

"Wormtail?" James said doubtfully.

"He is a Marauder." Lily pointed out. "And he might be a bit dim but he has a good heart."

"You say that about everyone." James grumbled. "Fine, fine! We'll change it to Peter. Can Dumbledore do that?"

"I'll send him a owl." Sirius said immediately. "I'll tell you when I get a reply. Oh, and I'll send Peter an owl too." With that, he vanished.

Lily and James remained unmoving for a second, and then Lily picked her book up again.

"I guess that's that." She said, and tried to squash the little worrying voice she had deep in her heart. James took a couple of deep breaths, opened his mouth as though he was going to say something, then walked out of the room.

Meanwhile, Harry and Jane slept on, oblivious to what had just happened.


	5. The discovery

Sirius woke up to the sound of a tawny owl pecking at his window

Sirius woke up to the sound of a tawny owl pecking at his window. He rolled out of bed, landing on the floor in a tangle of duvet covers. Groaning and rubbing his eyes, Sirius stumbled over to the window. After a few fumbling minutes, he heaved it open and the owl soared into the room, swooping round and round in large circles. Sirius yawned and tugged the letter from the owl's scrawny foot.

It was addressed to him: _To Sirius_. Sirius vaguely recognised the handwriting as Dumbledore's, so he tore open the letter excitedly and read:

_To Sirius,_

_Yes, it can be arranged if you wish. Peter will be coming to visit me this morning, so I will do it then, if I get his permission. If Peter does not wish to be Secret Keeper, then there is nothing I can do. I will inform you if he does not wish to be it._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

He sighed with relief. Lily and James should be safer now. No one would guess that Peter was Secret Keeper. But he couldn't fight that niggling feeling eating away inside him that something was wrong. Sirius sat back down on his bed and wondered how to put right his worries.

He jumped up and grabbed a quill and a scrap of parchment. He dipped his quill in a nearby inkpot and began to write:

_To Wormy,_

_Dumbledore will have told you that you are going to be Secret Keeper. Please do it. Do it for Lily and James. If you're worried, I'll set up a hiding place for you. I'll come round this evening to take you there, and make sure you're all right. Thanks for doing this!_

_Padfoot_

Yes, that was better. The worry had all but disappeared now. Sirius grinned to himself, then walked over to the corner of the room where his owl's cage was. He opened the latch, stroked the owl's soft brown feathers, and tied the letter to its foot.

"Go and find Peter." He instructed it. The owl swooped out of the window, spreading its wings wide and gliding on the wind. Sirius watched it disappear into the distance until it was only a tiny speck on the horizon. Then his stomach growled and he decided to get some breakfast.

Sirius felt a lot more awake after his coffee and cold shower. He walked outside and laughed at the glorious sensation of the wind blowing his wet hair. He strolled down the street, deciding to walk rather than Apparate. It was too nice a day not to be outside.

As he walked past rows of Muggle houses, Sirius noticed that they were all decorated with pumpkins and fake cobwebs. 'Halloween' he thought to himself. He remembered Halloween at Hogwarts, and the feast in the Great Hall. He remembered Halloween when he was little, when his Muggle friends thought that witches were evil and cackling.

Before he knew it, Sirius had arrived at his destination. A small shabby house on the outskirts of town. He knocked on the door and waited. It was a while before the door opened to reveal a shabby-looking man.

"Moony, mate!" Sirius cried. "Good to see you!"

Lupin checked his watch. "Er, Sirius, you do know it's ten in the morning, don't you?"

Sirius' smile faded. "Did I wake you up?" he asked worriedly. "I thought you normally wake up early."

Lupin laughed. "Yeah, I do …but you don't normally get up until the afternoon!"

Sirius laughed too. "Long story."

"So, how comes you're here?" Lupin asked. His face dropped. "Has …has something happened?" he asked worriedly.

"Oh no, nothing like that!" Sirius said quickly. Lupin looked relieved. "Nah, I was just a bit bored by myself." Sirius continued. "Mind if I come in?"

"Oh, yeah." Lupin said. "Sure." He stood back to let Sirius in. Sirius felt immediately guilty as he looked around at the poorly-furnished room. The carpet was stained and threadbare, and the wallpaper was peeling. There was an awkward silence.

Lupin wandered into the front room and Sirius followed. This room was just as shabby as the hallway, but slightly less cold, thanks to the small flickering fire in the fireplace. Sirius' gaze was caught by the moving photo of the four marauders: Padfoot, Prongs, Moony and Wormtail. Sirius remembered the day that photo had been taken, when they had just finished creating the Marauder's Map.

"Do you remember the time that Fred found the map?" Sirius asked. "When it insulted him?"

"Yeah, his face …" Lupin grinned. The boys sat reminiscing for hours, laughing and chatting away. All their cool school pranks now seemed immature and embarrassing. Eventually they ran out of things to talk about. Sirius checked his watch.

To his surprise, it was already four in the afternoon. The air outside was cooling and the light was fading.

"Well, I'd better get going." Sirius announced, getting to his feet. "Promised Peter I'd go and see him."

Lupin nodded. "It was nice seeing you." He showed Sirius to the front door and waved him goodbye. It was only as Sirius was closing the garden gate behind him that he remembered that he hadn't mentioned to Lupin what he had come to tell him: that Peter was now Secret Keeper.

Well, there was no hurry. It could wait. Sirius reached home, but instead of opening the front door, he walked around to the garage. With a flick of his wand, it smoothly rose open to reveal a large motorbike.

Sirius grinned as he walked up to it and climbed on. He started the engine and sped off. Roads and streets zoomed past in a flash. Eventually, he had left all the houses behind. There were no Muggles around to see what happened next. Sirius pressed a blue button on the bike and, with another rev of the engine, it soared into the sky.

Sirius loved flying his bike around in the clouds. It was just like flying a broomstick, but with the great sense of self-esteem that came with a loud motorbike.

It was twenty miles from Sirius' place to Peter's house. Sirius enjoyed every second of the journey, and felt disappointed when Peter's house was in sight. He half-considered flying straight past, but then he noticed the flashing fuel gauge. With a regretful sigh, he steered the bike back down to firm ground. The wheels hit the road with a bump.

Sirius clambered off the bike and flicked his wand to stabilise it by the side of the road. He walked up to the front door of Peter's house and knocked.

Something was wrong. It was dark now, but there were no lights on inside. Five minutes came and went. Sirius rung the bell, banged on the door, but there was no reply. Finally, he drew his wand and the door burst open with a 'bang'.

Sirius stormed into the house. "Peter?" he called. "Anyone here?"

There was no reply. Sirius searched every room. Finally, he looked into the kitchen. There was a letter on the table, besides an opened envelope. Sirius snatched up the parchment and read:

_To Peter Pettigrew,_

_Lily and James have decided to make you their Secret Keeper. Please visit me at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I suggest that you do not leave the house, even when the spell has been complete and you are Secret Keeper. I hope that you decide to become Secret Keeper for Lily and James. Thank you._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

Sirius' heart pounded. Why would Peter disobey a direct order from Dumbledore? Peter had always been obedient, even at Hogwarts. There were only two possible reasons for Peter's absence:

1. He had been taken by Death Eaters.

2. He was working against them.

Sirius didn't like either of those options. Each of them meant that Lily and James were in danger. His brain was telling him that there was no sign of a struggle, that option 2 was a hundred times more likely. But his heart didn't want him to believe that his friend could do something so cruel.

Sirius didn't have time to worry. He was the only one who could save them. He ran outside, leaving the door swinging behind him. Running towards the bike, he jumped onto it and flew upwards, not caring who saw.

Godric's Hollow was five minutes journey away, but this time Sirius wanted time to speed up. His fuel was dropping steadily lower and lower, but there was still enough to get him there. All the time, a prayer rang through Sirius' head: _Please let them be all right. Don't let them be gone. Please let them be ok._

Sirius eyes were watering, and not just from the cold night air that whipped at his face. He wished, not for the first time, that the bike could go faster. It was all down to him to get there in time.

It seemed like several painfully long hours before Godric's Hollow came in sight. Sirius' heart filled with a sense of dread as he landed and sprinted down the road. Something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. The front door of the Potter's house was hanging open.

Sirius' breath caught in his throat. The lump there was making it impossible to breathe. He didn't know if he wanted to see what was inside, but if there was a chance that they were alive …

Sirius' fists were clenched tight. His knuckles were white and stretched against his skin as he summoned up all the courage he possessed and walked inside.

The sight there hit him like a fist. Sirius' head was sent reeling, spinning, as he saw the sight that would haunt him for the rest of his life. James Potter could not be dead, he just couldn't! His friend who had been like a brother to him since first-year … Sirius felt sick. Gone …gone …you didn't get Sirius without James, or James without Sirius …they were a double act …never to be separated.

Never in Sirius' life had he been so miserable, yet there was a small shred of hope buried deep inside him. If only Lily was ok, Lily and Harry and Jane …

Sirius didn't notice his feet walk him up the stairs. He was in a trance as he reached the landing. Everything seemed pale and blurred, nothing was important anymore.

Sirius didn't think that life could get any worse, but it did. He opened the bedroom door and almost collapsed with grief. Lily Potter, Lily Evans …not her, too. And now there was no hope left inside him, no courage. He lifted his wand to send a message to Dumbledore without even thinking about what he was doing.

If Lily was dead, then there was no hope for Harry or Jane. Sirius didn't even bother to look over at the cots …he didn't think he could stand the sight of anyone else he loved, dead. He collapsed in a chair before his trembly legs gave way beneath him. He buried his head in his hands and took deep, shuddering breaths.

Time seemed to stand still as Sirius sat alone, surrounded by death, cradling his pounding head. Thoughts, memories, darted and flashed through his mind. The first day on the Hogwarts Express …the Sorting …the Marauder's map …trips to Hogsmeade …Quidditch …graduating …Lily and James' wedding …James telling him that he was Godfather …

Sirius shook his head, trying to dissolve the memories. He didn't want to remember, to think, to feel. He wanted to be gone, to disappear. More memories echoed through his head …his mum and dad …Regulus boasting about being in Slytherin …a baby's cry …

They all seemed so real, so clear. Suddenly the world came crashing back around Sirius as he remembered where he was, that time hadn't actually stopped for him. He heard the sound of children's laughter outside. It was incredible that life went on. Didn't people realise what had happened?

The baby's cry was still resounding through Sirius' brain. With a jolt, he realised that what he was hearing was real. Harry …or Jane …was alive! The thought brought new energy to Sirius. He lifted himself out of the seat with incredible effort and stumbled over to the cots. Harry was lying there, wailing. But there was something different about him …

Sirius gently stroked the newly-formed scar on baby Harry's head. It was still red and raw. How on earth had Harry survived? Sirius lifted him up gently and rocked him in his arms. Harry fell silent at once, making happy gurgling noises. But the baby's crying went on. Sirius frowned as yet another realisation came to him. Jane was still alive.

His heart lifted another millimetre from its dark and gloomy depths. Still rocking Harry, Sirius walked over to the cot in the corner, desperately trying not to look at Lily's dreadfully still body on the floor. He had been right, Jane was still alive; wailing her head off, but still alive.

Unlike Harry, she was unharmed. Sirius picked her up in his other arm and sat down again on the chair. He felt suddenly scared on the behalf of the two twins. They were only just one, but already they were orphaned. He wondered if they knew what had just happened. Surely they hadn't, or they would be more upset than this …

Sirius heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. He didn't care if it was a Death Eater, or even Voldemort himself. He didn't mind death at all at this moment; in fact he welcomed it. But there was more spirit in his heart than there had been before. He felt as though he had a duty to Harry and Jane to stay alive …as though he had to do it for them.

But before Sirius could decide whether to draw his wand, the intruder burst into the door. Sirius felt half-relieved, half-disappointed.

It was only Hagrid.


	6. The Separation

"How …how did he find them

"How …how did he find them?" Hagrid asked in a thick voice. Sirius just shook his head. He didn't want to recall his nightmare of an afternoon.

"I'll kill Peter." he muttered, and there was such hatred in his voice that Hagrid stopped snorting into his handkerchief.

"Well, I …I'd better be going." Hagrid mumbled. "Take the kids to Dumbledore."

"I want to come too." Sirius said. He didn't know how he had managed to force any legible words past the thick lump in his throat. All he knew was that he couldn't let Harry and Jane out of his sight.

"If you like." Hagrid replied, and then stuffing his handkerchief in his pocket, he picked up Jane and walked downstairs.

Sirius followed, clutching Harry tightly as though he would never let him go again. Harry gave a little wail. Sirius almost collapsed again as he walked past James' body. It took an enormous amount of effort to keep walking when his best mate was …was just lying there on the floor. Sirius couldn't bear it. James had been the only person who had managed to convince Sirius that it was a good thing being in Gryffindor …that his parents had got it all wrong.

"Where are we going?" Sirius asked, with no emotion in his voice, although his whole being was so filled with emotion that it was almost unbearable.

"Hogwarts." Hagrid explained. "Dumbledore will decide what to do with Harry and Jane."

Sirius accepted this explanation without speaking. He looked at his carelessly discarded motorbike, thrown aside in his hurry to warn Lily and James. It was only big enough for one person.

"I was going to go by Floo powder." Hagrid added. "That's how I got here. But you can't leave your bike here."

"I don't care." Sirius said. He didn't care about anything right now. "I won't need it anymore." He had spoken without thinking, but now he realised that that was the truth. It seemed impossible that he would ever be able to enjoy anything again, especially something as trivial as flying.

Hagrid looked a little surprised, but then he spoke: "All right then. Well …we'll go to Bathilda's fireplace."

Sirius understood only too well why Hagrid didn't want to go back to the Potter's, that house of …of horrors.

Bathilda was distraught when Hagrid explained what had happened. Hearing it aloud made Sirius feel even worse, if that was possible. Harry and Jane didn't much like travelling by Floo powder, reminding Sirius of a young James with a miserable pang.

They came out in Dumbledore's brightly-lit office. Sirius' tired eyes took a while to adjust to the sudden, glaring light. Dumbledore looked more sad and serious than Sirius had ever seen him.

Sirius bit his lip to fight back another wave of tears. He had never cried before, not even when his Dad died.

It took Sirius a while to realise that Dumbledore was not alone. Minerva McGonagall was there as well, and she spoke first. "So …did …did the Potters have a Will?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No. They … were going to do it before Christmas but …well, they never got the chance, did they?"

It was not a question that wanted an answer. "So it's up to us to decide." Dumbledore continued. There was a silence. The air was thick with unspoken sadness.

"What has happened to …Voldemort?" Sirius asked. He didn't mind saying the name now. Something had changed.

"I don't think he's gone." Dumbledore confessed. "He will be back and …Harry will be in danger when he does."

Sirius felt even sadder. This little boy did not only have a disturbing past, it looked like he was in for a disturbing future too. Sirius felt a huge amount of sympathy and affection for Harry.

"I think that Jane will only be safe if she and Harry are separated." Dumbledore said seriously.

Sirius shook his head immediately. "You can't." he said loudly. Everyone turned to look at him and he felt very self-conscious. "They're twins and …well, they need each other right now."

"I understand." Dumbledore said, and Sirius knew he meant it. "If there was any alternative …but Jane will be ten times safer away from her brother. Harry can stay with Lily's sister, Petunia. If I'm right, he can be protected there. Jane …Jane can stay with Lily's cousin."

Sirius shook his head. "You can't." he repeated. "It's not right."

"We can tell them when they're old enough to understand, to decide for themselves." Dumbledore said gently.

"Dumbledore knows what he's talking about." McGonagall added quietly. "It's for Jane's own good."

"Then I'll be no part of it." Sirius replied softly. He handed Harry to Dumbledore and turned to leave. His arms felt strangely empty without Harry in them. He knew he was doing the right thing, but at the same time he thought he was doing it all wrong. He had just abandoned the twins to their fate. Jane and Harry were going to be separated, and they wouldn't even know of each other's existence.

Jane would never know about Harry.

Harry would never know about Jane.

It was all so terribly wrong. The twins only had each other now after the loss of their parents, and soon they would have no one. Sirius reminded himself that he would always be there for the both of them. Then he remembered what he had vowed to do and realised that he wouldn't be around for much longer.

But Azkaban would be worth it if he avenged Lily and James. It would all be worth it. And when he got out he would reunite Harry and Jane and everything would be right …well, things would never be right, but almost right …once again.


	7. The Truth

Harry woke up staring at the low ceiling

Harry woke up staring at the low ceiling. He had had one of his dreams again. The dreams started normally enough; Harry was sitting down, flicking through one of his photo albums. Each page had several pictures of him and his parents, happy and smiling. Finally, Harry got to the end of the album, and proceeded to turn the last page. But it wouldn't turn. As much as he tried, the page was stuck. Suddenly; Lily, James, Sirius, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape appeared. They were all scolding him, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. Then they all tried to tug the photo album from him. Harry tried to hold on, but he was no match for six adults, and soon the album was slipping from his grasp. The adults carried the photo album away into the dark, dark distance. Harry tried to call them to come back, but then he woke up.

Always the same dream. Always the same length. Harry had given up trying to work out what the dream meant. He had resigned himself to thinking that it was just a dream; that there was no meaning behind it.

Harry yawned and sat up. His hand automatically reached out for his glasses; a seven-year habit that Harry had picked up long ago. He slid the glasses onto his nose and opened the curtains. Blinking in the sudden light, Harry noticed that Ron's bed was empty. The sun outside was already strong and pure; it had passed its early-morning watery stage.

Harry guessed from these two facts that it was at least nine. He felt guilty as he quickly pulled on his jeans and patted down his hair: Ron and Hermione would already be tidying by now.

Harry walked sleepily down the stairs into the dining room. Ron was sitting on the table; laughing with Sirius.

"Finally the sleeper joins us." Sirius grinned as Harry entered the room.

"Some people get all the luck." Ron grumbled. "I got woken up at seven this morning. Mum was yelling at Fred and George."

Harry grinned sheepishly and helped himself to an apple from the fruit bowl. He had no sooner started munching when …

"Boys!" Mrs Weasley called. "Come and help Hermione with tidying Sirius' old study!"

Ron groaned and jumped down off the table. Harry followed regretfully.

"See ya, Sirius." Harry said over his shoulder. He followed Ron up several flights of stairs until they reached a flustered-looking Mrs Weasley backing out of a door. She was carrying a towering stack of old papers and files.

"Hello Mrs Weasley." Harry said, still sleepy.

"Oh, boys!" she replied. Her voice sounded muffled from behind all the parchment. "Right, Ron, can you take down the curtains and put them in the laundry pile and Harry …"

Ron edged past his mum into the study.

"Harry, you can sort out that cupboard in the corner." Mrs Weasley finished. Then she proceeded to totter down the landing.

Harry walked into the study and tossed his apple core in the bin.

"Hi, Harry!" Hermione chirped from her position standing on the top of the desk. She was busy dusting the lampshade hanging from the ceiling.

Harry said 'hi' back, and walked over to the cupboard that he assumed was the one he was supposed to tidy. It was locked. Harry felt for his wand in the back pocket of his jeans, then remembered that he couldn't do magic outside Hogwarts.

He complained under his breath, then stuck his head out of the study door and looked around for any passing adults. Soon, Sirius appeared with a 'crack' at the top of the stairs. He grinned when he caught Harry looking at him.

"Well, there's too many stairs for an old man like me to walk up." Sirius explained.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Can you unlock this cupboard in here?" he asked.

"Sure." Sirius replied easily. He followed Harry into the study and, drawing his wand, pointed it at the lock. "Alohomora." He said. The doors swung creakily open. Harry coughed as the room was suddenly filled with dust.

Hermione cried in frustration as her newly-cleaned surfaces were covered in decades-old dust.

"Thanks, Sirius." Harry spluttered. There was no reply. "Sirius?" Harry asked again. He looked over at his godfather, who was looking into the cupboard with a horrified look on his face.

Harry looked into the cupboard too. There was nothing unusual; some old bits of screwed-up parchment, an ancient hand-held mirror, a cardboard box, and a few rolls of sellotape.

"Hey, what's wrong, Sirius?" Harry asked, puzzled.

Sirius pulled himself together. "I …nothing!" he said, rather too quickly and rather too brightly for Harry to believe him. "Maybe we shouldn't bother cleaning out this cupboard after all. Why don't you come and help me?"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. "This cupboard is filthy!"

For a few more seconds, Sirius remained standing between Harry and the cupboard, not blinking. His eyes were wide and despairing, he was frightfully pale, and he was almost hyperventilating. Then he seemed to deflate. His arms sagged to his sides and he stepped to one side.

"You were bound to find out sooner or later." He said sadly. "Just don't hate me."

Harry thought this an odd thing to say, and he hesitated before rummaging through the cupboard. It was quiet in the room now; all eyes were on him. Harry wiped a thick layer of dust off the top of a cardboard box and his heart gave a jolt. Written on the lid of the box in thick black capitals were the words: THE POTTERS.

Harry placed the box down on the carpet and tore open the sellotape. On the top of the contents was a framed family tree entitled: "The Peverells / Potters". Harry lifted up the parchment gently – for it was so old that it looked as though it might crumble.

Squinting at the black writing, Harry could see that there must be hundreds of generations listed. The font was so small that he couldn't make it out, as much as he tried. Harry reached out and gently touched the small patch of black which he assumed must be him and his parents. To his shock, the print grew at his touch, until it was easily readable.

Harry blinked and rubbed his eyes, thinking that they must be deceiving him. There was him, and his parents, that was fine, but …who were Delilah and Derek? He hadn't known that his mum had had a cousin. But as strange as this was, it wasn't what worried Harry the most.

Why was there another black line drawn down from Lily and James? And who the HELL was Jane?

Harry couldn't even begin to comprehend what he had just discovered, so he cast the framed parchment aside and looked back in the box. His head was suddenly pounding and he had a cracking headache.

Left in the box were a photo album and a few enveloped letters. Harry picked up the photo album. It was strangely familiar, although he didn't know why. He opened it and noticed that the first pages were empty. His brain came to the conclusion that the missing photos must be the ones that had been given to Harry for his birthday.

Then Harry turned the page and several things happened at once:

Harry remembered that he recognised the photo album from his dream.

He saw with shock that these pictures of him and his parents included another baby; one dressed in pick, not blue like Harry.

Harry slammed the photo album shut and turned to face Sirius; who was looking absolutely terrified, making him paler than ever.

"I didn't want it to happen." He told Harry, his voice so full of guilt that Harry almost took a step back. "Please believe me …please forgive me."

Harry realised that he was shaking; though through fear or anger, he did not know.

"Why …what …" Harry didn't know how to ask the question he wanted to.

Sirius looked directly at Harry, with tearful eyes. "She's your twin." He whispered. "Your twin, Harry."

Hermione gasped, and Ron looked shocked. Harry however, felt like he had just been hit by a bludger.

"My …what?" he asked dumbly. Sirius bit his lip. "Your twin." He repeated, even quieter than before.

Harry didn't believe him. Maybe Sirius was just a really, really, really good actor. He found his voice before his brain had caught up with the discovery.

"Fuck off." He said, and swayed on the spot, just catching himself before fainting.


	8. The Arguement

"NO I WILL NOT CALM DOWN

"NO I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" Harry roared. Mrs Weasley gave him a sympathetic (but rather scared) look.

"Now, shouting won't help anyone." Mrs Weasley said calmly to Harry, patting him on the shoulder. He shrugged her hand off.

"This is NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!" Harry yelled at her, feeling immediately guilty for taking out his anger on Mrs Weasley.

"Harry, leave Molly alone." Sirius told Harry sharply.

"I'M NOT DOING WHAT YOU TELL ME!" Harry bellowed. "I TRUSTED YOU …YOU WERE MY FRIEND BUT NOW IT TURNS OUT THAT YOU'VE JUST BEEN LYING TO ME ALL MY LIFE!"

Sirius nodded sadly. "I can't deny it." He admitted. "But at least hear my side of the story."

"AND WHY THE HELL SHOULD I?" Harry snapped at him. "WHY DO I OWE YOU ANYTHING? I JUST WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH!"

"Well SHUT UP THEN!" Sirius replied, raising his voice for the first time. "And I'll tell you!"

Harry stood glaring at him. Sirius could almost see the steam emanating from his ears. Then Harry sat down in a chair, still not breaking eye contact with his godfather. Sirius took this as an invitation to explain.

"Okay," He began, taking a deep breath. "Well, when you were a baby, you were born as a twin. You had a sister called Jane and you were both adorable. You stayed together as a normal family with your parents …"

This brought a vivid mental image into Harry's brain; a picture of a happy family in a cosy little house. Harry fought hard to stop the hot, angry tears spilling from his eyes.

"…until you were both almost one." Sirius continued. "Then Dumbledore came to tell your parents about the prophecy …"

"What prophecy?" Harry interrupted.

"I …hasn't Dumbledore?… it doesn't matter for the moment." Sirius said, trying to cover his mistake. It wouldn't do for Harry to get too many shocks in one day. "Anyway, this prophecy …threatened you. So Dumbledore performed a Fidelius Charm to protect you and your family. It worked fine, and I was the Secret Keeper."

"I KNOW all this!" Harry cried. "CAN WE JUST GET TO THE POINT?"

Sirius nodded hastily and continued. "After …after the …after it happened, Hagrid and me took you towo to Hogwarts. And then …well, there was a bit of an argument, but eventually Dumbledore decided that Jane would be safer if …if you two were separated."

"OH, SO THIS IS ALL DUMBLEDORE'S FAULT?" Harry roared, springing back to his feet.

"No, no." Sirius said hastily. "Well …ok, I won't pretend I was innocent but … well, I did try and keep you together. I vowed than when I got out of Azkaban, I would set things right again."

"BUT YOU DIDN'T, DID YOU?" Harry bellowed.

"No! Because I didn't know where Jane was! No one knows!" Sirius explained impatiently. Harry paused hesitantly.

"What do you mean, no one knows?" Harry asked quietly. His voice scared Sirius more than when he was shouting.

"She was sent to live with your mother's cousin." Sirius explained nervously. "They moved house and no one knows where they went."

"So …so you've lost my twin?" Harry asked. There was no mistaking the anger in his shaking voice.

"I …" Sirius couldn't answer. What did you say to a question like that?

"I want to speak to Dumbledore." Harry said calmly.

"I …I don't think that's a good idea." Sirius warned Harry.

"IT'S A BLOODY FANTASTIC IDEA!" Harry yelled back. "NOW GET DUMBLEDORE FOR ME!"

Before Sirius could reply, the portrait of Phineallas Nigellus appeared. "What's all the noise about?" he asked crossly.

"I. WANT. TO. SPEAK. TO. DUM. BLE. DORE!" Harry barked.

"And how am I supposed to arrange that?" the portrait asked.

"TELL HIM THAT I FOUND OUT AND I WANT A WORD WITH HIM." Harry yelled.

The ex-headmaster looked ready to argue, but then he thought better of it and disappeared.

"Glad that's sorted." Harry said brightly.

Sirius grinned weakly and sat down, watching the fireplace. Harry copied him, waiting for Dumbledore's arrival. He wasn't disappointed. A few minutes later, Dumbledore came spinning out of the fireplace and landed on the rug.

"Ah, good evening, Harry." Dumbledore said calmly. "And Sirius …Molly."

Harry's anger was made even greater by Dumbledore's calmness.

"I found out." He said shortly, coldly.

"So I hear." Dumbledore replied politely. "May I enquire what you have found out?"

"OH, DON'T PRETEND INNOCENT!" Harry raged. "YOU KNOW JUST WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! JANE! RING ANY BELLS?"

"Ah." Dumbledore said. Suddenly he looked weary and a little guilty. "Yes. Jane."

"You lied to me." Harry said simply.

"I don't recall lying to you …I just didn't mention the truth." Dumbledore corrected him.

"Same difference." Harry replied. "Either way, you didn't tell me what I ought to know."

Both people were speaking as though they were simply discussing the weather. Molly looked from one to the other; quite alarmed. She stood up suddenly. "I'll make some tea." She said hastily, and scurried from the room.

"Yes, that's true." Dumbledore said heavily. "Perhaps we should sit …"

"Why?" Harry interrupted. "Why do it?"

"I …I thought it best." Dumbledore replied, taking a seat. Harry remained standing. "I believed that Jane's safety would be sacrificed if I kept you two together."

"AND THAT JUSTIFIES IT, DOES IT? JUSTIFIES SEPERATING TWO TWINS? TWINS! TWINS SHOULD BE TOGETHER!" Harry hollered.

"I would have thought that you would be concerned for the well-fare of your twin." Dumbledore replied.

"Oh no." Harry replied angrily, shaking his head. "No way. You are NOT going to make me feel guilty. This is NOT MY FAULT!"

"Oh, of course not." Dumbledore agreed. "I never suggested that it was."

By now, Sirius was pretending to be deeply engrossed in a Daily Prophet. Harry had forgotten that he was there.

"Well what are you going to do about it?" Harry asked coldly.

"I …" this question seemed to take Dumbledore by surprise. "Well, I don't know."

"Well you can't keep up the happy little pretence now, can you?" Harry asked, his eyes watery. "Not now that I know. SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?"

Dumbledore looked sadder and guiltier than Harry had ever seen him. "I don't see that there's anything I can do." He admitted.

Harry snorted. "Oh, come on! You're DUMBLEDORE! You can do ANYTHING! Finding her should be a piece of cake for YOU!"

"It's not as simple as that." Dumbledore said. "You may know the truth, but Jane …how do you think she'll feel if one day her long-lost twin turns up on the doorstep."

"A BIT LIKE I DO!" Harry yelled. "LIKE SHE HATES EVEYONE THAT KEPT THE TRUTH FROM HER!"

At this sentence, Sirius coughed sadly and Dumbledore readjusted his glasses.

"I'm sorry you feel like that, Harry." Dumbledore said sadly. "But this is irrelevant. We can't track Jane down anyway. And yes, we have tried."

Harry barely noticed the scalding tears wetting his face. "WELL TRY HARDER THEN!"

Dumbledore lost his temper for the first time Harry had ever known. "We are trying as hard as we can, Harry! Don't you think your sister's safety is greatly important to us? If you think you can do a better job, be my guest!" he cried.

Harry gritted his teeth. "Well maybe I will." He retorted. Dumbledore looked shocked. "Maybe I'll do just that."

"Harry …" Dumbledore began. Harry cut him off with a scathing look.

"DON'T!" he yelled. "DON'T YOU EVER COME NEAR ME AGAIN! YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH TO RUIN MY LIFE ALREADY!"

For a moment, Harry's hand twitched towards his wand, but he simply snarled and turned on his heel to leave. As he walked towards the door, he almost bumped into Mrs Weasley carrying a tray of tea.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" He yelled. Mrs Weasley looked frightened and some tea splashed out of the cups.

Harry stormed upstairs into his bedroom. Hermione and Ron were sitting there. Harry paused, momentarily distracted from what he was going to do.

"AND I SUPPOSE YOU TWO KNEW TOO?" he yelled. Ron and Hermione looked frightened.

"Of course not, Harry!" Hermione protested. Harry snorted, then grabbed his rucksack and chucked a few necessary items in.

"I …where are you going, Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"AWAY!" Harry shouted. He swung his bag over his shoulder and marched out. "Goodbye!"

Harry ran down the stairs, straight over to the front door. Dumbledore appeared in a doorway.

"Harry …" he began. Harry ignored him and, walking out the front door, slammed it shut behind him.


	9. The Grangers

Harry slumped down on the park bench, defeated

Harry slumped down on the park bench, defeated. He had nowhere to go. He couldn't …he _wouldn't_ go back, and there seemed no way forward either. He hadn't thought about what he'd do when he left …his mind had been too full of anger …

"Hey, Harry," a familiar voice said. "Fancy seeing you here."

Ron sat down next to Harry, closely followed by Hermione. "So what's the plan?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. "Might go back to the Dursleys." – for the idea had just occurred to him.

Ron whistled through his teeth and Hermione gave Harry a sympathetic look.

"Hang on!" Hermione cried suddenly. "Harry, you could come and stay with me!"

Harry couldn't immediately find anything wrong with this plan.

"Dumbledore will never think of looking for you there, and I'm sure mum and dad won't mind." Hermione continued. "Oh, and you could come too, Ron."

Ron looked happier. "Yeah, yeah Harry this could work! It's only for a week and then we can go back to Hogwarts …"

That was a point. Harry hadn't thought about Hogwarts. Would he want to go back, now that he had found out?

"That's settled then." Hermione said brightly. "I'll phone mum …we can get the train."

/

"Ok, we'll see you in ten minutes." Hermione said into her mobile. "Yeah, bye!" She hung up. "Mum and dad are fine with it." She told the boys.

Ron nodded slightly. He was pale and clutching his seat as the train pulled away from the platform. Harry wasn't listening. He was staring out the window, lost in his own world. He didn't notice the changing scenery whoosh by. He didn't notice the train slow as they neared a station, until Hermione tapped him on the shoulder.

"Come on." She said gently. "This is our stop."

Harry followed her off the train with the Ron, who seemed greatly relieved to have two feet on firm ground. "Don't know how they manage …" he kept muttering. "Don't know how they cope …"

It was a short walk from Hermione's house to the station. Hermione lived in a smallish-sized house; the part of Harry's brain that was up-to-date with where he was supposed that dentists didn't earn a lot.

**(I have no idea if they do or not. Sorry if I have offended anyone.)**

"Oh, hello dear!" said a friendly-looking woman who opened the door before Hermione, Harry and Ron reached it. She pulled Hermione into a hug.

"And you must be Ron?" the woman (whom Harry assumed was Mrs Granger) continued. Ron nodded. "We've heard all about you." Mrs Granger smiled.

Ron looked curious, wanting to know what had been said about him.

"And Harry." Mrs Granger finished. She paused. "Poor Harry." She said quietly. Harry felt uncomfortable. "JIM!" she called over her shoulder. "THEY'RE HERE!"

Jim (Mr Granger?) arrived behind his wife, nodded at the three children (with a larger smile for his daughter) and wandered off again.

"Well, come in!" Mrs Granger said warmly. Harry marvelled at how alike she was (in personality, at least) to Mrs Weasley.


	10. The List

This chapter is dedicated to Chrissie

**This chapter is dedicated to Chrissie. She'll know why when she reads it, and other people in our class will be able to work it out as well. Other people, just ignore this bit. It won't make sense. Happy reading! (that sounded so neeky)**

Harry woke up before Ron this time. He fumbled about in the dark, getting dressed. Soon he opened the door quietly, and crept out.

The sound of Muggle music, and laughter, drifted up the stairs. Hermione was sitting in the kitchen, laughing with her mum over orange juice and toast. Her dad was half-listening whilst reading a Muggle newspaper. Harry saw that the vibey music was coming from a radio on the kitchen table. He felt like he was intruding as he walked up to the happy family.

"Good morning, Harry!" Mrs Granger said brightly, as Harry slid into the seat next to Hermione. Mrs Granger jumped up. "Would you like some toast? I'm afraid we only have wholemeal, better for the teeth, you know."

"That would be great." Harry said politely. Mrs Granger beamed at him and went to make the toast. Harry marvelled again at how alike she was to Mrs Weasley.

"'Morning Harry." Said Mr Granger ("call me Jim!"). Harry said 'morning' back.

When Ron had arrived and been similarly fussed over, and Mr and Mrs Granger had gone off to work, conversations turned to more serious matters.

"Did you really mean what you said to Dumbledore?" Hermione asked tentatively. Harry didn't bother to ask how she had heard; he had been shouting so loud that his voice was still sore.

"That I hate him?" Harry asked matter-of factly. "Yes."

"No …not that." Hermione said hastily. "That you're going to look for Jane."

"Oh!" Harry said. The question took him by surprise. "Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I have meant it?"

Hermione coughed nervously. "Well, it's just that …if even Dumbledore couldn't …"

"I don't want to hear that name." Harry said firmly. The thought of Dumbledore sickened him.

"Look, what Hermione's trying to say is …you don't have a hope in hell of finding her." Ron said bluntly. "People have tried, Harry …and you're not even fully-qualified yet!"

Harry frowned. As unbelievable as it was, he hadn't thought of that. Now he really thought, Ron was right. How could Harry have kidded himself that he had a chance of finding Jane? Things looked hopeless. Harry couldn't think of any argument against what Ron had said. Just as Harry was about to give up completely, a voice on the radio caught his attention:

"Easy to despair

_When all you hear is fear and lies_

_Easy just to run and hide_

_To frightened to begin_

_But if we dare to dare …"_

Harry couldn't believe the coincidence of it. The song fitted. All of it. _"When all you hear is fear and lies"_; well, he'd certainly heard enough lies from Sirius and Dumbledore to last him a lifetime. Then _"Easy to despair"_; well, that had been exactly how Harry was feeling. _"Easy just to run and hide, to frightened to begin"_; it was as though the song had been written for him!

The song had inspired new courage into Harry. He only had to_ "dare to dare"_, to believe in himself, and everything would work. He could do anything.

"Yes." He said suddenly. "Yes, I'm going to look for her."

There was a shocked pause, then Hermione spoke. "Well, I'll help." She said nervously.

"Me too." Ron agreed.

"Well, that's settled then." Harry said brightly.

The next few minutes were spent brainstorming ideas. Hermione was being a great help.

"Sirius said that they'd moved." Harry recalled dimly.

"Right …so we can check house sales." Hermione suggested.

"And how are you going to do that?" Ron asked. "They're wizards! And witches. They're not going to have bought Muggle houses; you can't track them!"

"Haven't you read _A History of Magic_?" Hermione asked. Ron and Harry shook their heads and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Even houses in places like Godric's Hollow get registered in Muggle records. Muggles build the houses, after all."

"Well, that still doesn't help us." Harry pointed out. "We don't have access to house records, do we?"

"There's always the internet." Hermione suggested.

"Good one!" Harry cried. "Do you have a computer?"

Hermione nodded. Ron had been watching this exchange with an expression of bewilderment.

"What's the internet?" he asked. "What's a computer?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. "You explain." Harry said. "I'll get searching."

The hours spent in Privet Drive when the Dursleys had been away had enabled Harry to become an expert in surfing the web. He opened Google and got searching straight away, whilst Ron watched over his shoulder in amazement.

It was only a few minutes before Harry found a site with house sale records on. Unfortunately, although surnames were listed, there was no way of searching by surname. So Harry had to scroll through the thousands of names. It was half an hour before he finished.

"No Potters." Harry said gloomily.

"But they won't be Potters, will they?" Hermione pointed out. "They'll be Evans'. Your mum's sister …oh no, but she'll have kept her husbands name."

"Smith." Harry said. "They were Smith. I saw it on the family tree."

Hermione groaned. "It had to be Smith, didn't it? They'll be hundreds!"

Sure enough, Harry scribbled down a list of twenty names. "This is assuming that they moved to somewhere in the UK, of course." Hermione pointed out.

"Well, it's a start." Harry said, looking down at his list. "We'll investigate these families and if we don't find her …we'll go from there."

"What's number one?" Ron asked, taking the list from Harry. "They moved to …Brighton, by the looks of this."

"Brighton it is then." Harry said.


	11. The Search Begins

It was the weekend before they were to set off for Brighton

_It was the weekend before they were to set off for Brighton. Mr Granger was going to be driving them there and back. Everything was sorted, until on Friday, Ron had stumbled across the flaw in their plan:_

_They would have to search the whole of Brighton. _

_But Hermione knew that the library would never fail her. So she popped off to the library in search of a book._

_Meanwhile, Harry did some more searching. He searched for "Jane Smith", "Brighton houses Smith family" …he tried everything. It wasn't long before he found a website about the house prices in Brighton …but you had to have a password to enter it._

_Hermione returned from the library with a book called "A Beginner's Guide to Hacking."_

_And that's how Ron, Harry and Hermione found themselves heading towards "Elizabeth St." on a Saturday morning._

The blue car pulled up by the side of the road. Harry assumed that this was Elizabeth St., but he couldn't tell, thanks to the thick layer of graffiti covering the street name.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Harry asked, hoping that it wasn't.

"Yes." Mr Granger replied, consulting his map. He looked nervous. "Look, are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

It was a tempting offer, but Harry declined. They hadn't told Mr Granger all the details of their trip yet.

Ron, Hermione and Harry got out the car and approached the house on the corner. Harry hesitated for a second, then rung the bell. It didn't work. Harry knocked on the door and it was flung open almost immediately.

A fat woman in a dressing gown, smoking, stood on the doorstep. "Whadda you want?" she snapped. "Is you from the council, cos' I'm tellin' ya, that weren't me!"

"No, Mrs, we're …" Hermione began.

"Oh, I know who you is." The woman interrupted. "You's the old bill, in't ya?"

"No, we're looking for the Smiths." Harry said.

"Well I don't know no Smiths, does I?" the woman said. "You can't fool me, youse is cops, you is. Go on, get out!"

And with that, she slammed the door shut in their faces. Harry and Ron exchanged glances.

"Well …it might be the next house." Harry said, walking along to the next house.

"Oh, I hope she doesn't live round here." Hermione said desperately.

The next house didn't have a bell. Harry knocked on the door, which was covered in …well, he didn't think he wanted to know what it was covered in.

No one came to the door. "D'you think they're out?" Ron asked hopefully.

"No, I can hear voices." Hermione said. Harry banged on the door again, harder.

An eye appeared in the crack in the door. "Who are you?" a voice asked.

"We're looking for the Smith family." Harry told the eye.

"We don't know nuffin'." Said a new, different voice. This one was male.

"Sorry to have bothered you then." Hermione said politely, and the three walked off.

"We're not going to get anything out of anyone round here." Ron pointed out.

"We have to try." Harry said firmly.

At the next house, everyone was out …or appeared to be.

At the house after that, a burly man told them to eff off, and his dog didn't seem to want them around either, judging by the amount of noise it was making.

But at the house after the house after that …Harry rather thought they were getting somewhere.

"We're looking for the Smith family." Harry told the scrawny woman holding a toddler.

"How did you get this address?" she asked, panicking.

"I …we …are you the Smiths?" Harry asked impatiently.

"Yes." She whispered.

"Do you have a daughter called Jane?" Harry asked. "Aged 15?"

"No." the woman said hastily. "Now don't come bothering my family again!"

Harry sighed as the door was shut in their face. "Well that was a waste of time."

The three of them trooped back to the car, where Mr Granger was waiting, watching nervously.

"You ok?" he asked them. Harry nodded sadly. He pulled the list from his pocket and crossed off the first name.

"Where's the next one?" Ron asked.

"All the way over in Glasgow." Harry replied miserably. Ron looked worried.

"Well, we won't be able to go for a while, anyway." Hermione said sensibly. "We go back to Hogwarts on Monday."

"I don't know …" Harry said. They had arrived at the topic of Hogwarts again.

"Harry, you can't be thinking of leaving school!" Hermione cried, horrified. "You haven't even done your OWLs yet!"

"Quite." Said Mr Granger from the front (he had obviously been eavesdropping). "I shall not allow you to abandon your education at this young age. You're going back to school, mister!"


	12. The Return To Hogwarts

"I'm fine

"I'm _fine_!" Harry insisted.

Luna gave him a searching look. "You're not. Why won't you tell us what's wrong?" she asked.

"Look, if he doesn't want to tell us, then leave him alone." Neville said. Harry gave him a small relieved smile. He didn't want rumours spreading about his twin. He had enough rumours about him already.

There was a strained silence in the compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

"So …" Harry began, in an attempt to change the subject. "OWLs this year."

"Don't remind me." Neville groaned. "I'm doomed!"

Just at that moment, Ron and Hermione entered the carriage. "Hi!" Ron said, sitting next to Harry. Hermione squeezed in beside Luna.

"So who d'you reckon will be the next DA professor?" Neville asked.

"Dunno." Ron shrugged. And the topic moved on to Quidditch.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna entered the Great Hall, soaked.

(I'm not going to bother to describe the whole Harry-Sees-Thestrals thing, because you've all read it before.)

"Malfoy's back." Harry groaned. "Why can't he just leave? Everyone would be better off without him."

"What's up with you today?" Neville asked. "You're not normally this grouchy, even about Malfoy."

"Yeah, well, with the kind of summer I've had …" Harry muttered darkly. "I'm not in the best mood."

Neville gave Harry a searching look, but didn't press the subject.

The Sorting passed uneventfully, and so did the Feast. Harry stubbornly refused to watch Dumbledore as he made his speech, and stuck his fingers in his ears, ignoring Neville's curious looks.

"That was …different." Hermione said, when the speech had finished. "Wonder what people will make of all that Dark Lord stuff."

Harry bit back his curiosity to find out what Dumbledore had said in the speech. "Who's that woman?" he asked, as a toad-like woman stood up. "Looks like she's going to make a speech."

"Weren't you listening?" Hermione asked. "That's Professor Umbridge, the new Dark Arts professor."

(OK, I'm going to skip this bit as well. That's the problem with writing a fic in the time of Order of the Phoenix. You have to miss out half the good bits because they're copyrighted. Damn.)

Everybody stood to leave. Harry was following the crowd out the doors, when a seventh-year walked up to him.

"Harry?" he began.

"What?" Harry snapped. He was fed up with people coming up to him and asking him what had happened in the Tournament.

"Note for you." The seventh-year said. He handed Harry a slip of parchment and walked off to join his mates.

_Harry,_

_We need to talk. Come to my office tomorrow morning._

_Professor Dumbledore_

_PS. The password is Fizzing Whizzbees_

Ron and Hermione had been reading over his shoulder.

"What are you going to do?" Ron asked.

"Oh, I know exactly what I'm going to do." Harry grinned. The tone of his voice made Hermione and Ron step back a little.

Soon, they reached the common room. Harry was happy to be back. The common room was as warm and as cosy as ever. Harry walked over to the flickering fire in the fireplace. But he was not going there to be warm.

He dropped the parchment in the fire and watched it slowly blacken and crumble.

"That's what I think of Dumbledore's suggestion." Harry said, to the nervous Hermione and Ron.


	13. The Twelve Letters

Harry did not sleep a wink that night. His brain was working furiously all night long, searching for a plan as to how to get to Glasgow. He lay flat on his back, his eyes wide open and staring at the dark canopy of his bed.

At one in the morning, an idea struck him. He was looking at this the wrong way entirely. He didn't need to _go_ to Glasgow; he just had to contact the people there.

Harry crept out of bed and tiptoed towards the desk. On his way, his foot banged loudly and painfully on Seamus' trunk at the foot of his bed. Harry stuffed his fist into his mouth to stop him swearing out loud. Luckily, the dark shapes in the room slept peacefully on, and Harry sat down in the chair without any further accidents.

"Lumos," Harry whispered. By the light of his wand, he examined his sore foot, and then turned to the desk in front of him. He took a sheet of parchment from a pile in one of the drawers, and then dipped his quill in the inkpot.

_Dear Sirs / Madams,_

He wrote. He hesitated for a while, chewing on the end of his quill. Then inspiration came and he set his quill to the parchment once more.

_We are_

Harry crossed out these two words, displeased. He started again.

_Our company is_

That was better. Harry continued, pleased with himself.

_Dear Sirs / Madams,_

_Our company is carrying out a survey so that we can become more informed as to what kind of target market we should be aiming at. We would be most obliged if you could please fill in the survey below. When you have completed the form, please_

Harry paused. What would he write here? Another realization struck him: the people who lived here might be Muggles. How would they react to having an owl flying in their window? Mind you, Jane wasn't a Muggle, so that would rule out some more people.

Could you get arrested for sending owls to Muggle buildings? Harry wondered nervously. Ah well, there was only one way to find out.

_When you have completed the form, please attach your reply to the owl that has brought your letter and it will send the reply to our company. Thank you for your time._

_Surname: _

_Number of persons in your residence: _

_Number of adults in residence: _

_Number of children in residence: _

_Genders of persons in residence: _

_Ages of persons in residence: _

_Thank you once again for you time. We hope to receive a reply from you soon._

_Yours sincerely,_

Harry paused. He couldn't sign the letter with his name: that would be too obvious. Harry penned the first name that came to him:

_Yours sincerely,_

_Dolores Umbridge and Co._

Harry's tired eyes surveyed the letter proudly. He set it to one side and took another sheet of parchment. He had eleven more copies to make.

Harry didn't need the light of his wand by the time he had finished all twelve letters and sealed them; the sun was beginning to rise and cracks of light were shimmering through the narrow gaps in the curtains.

Harry picked up the pile of letters and walked over to his bed. He took his invisibility cloak and threw it over himself with his one free hand. There was a sticky moment when the pile of letters teetered on the verge of falling, and then it righted itself again.

Luckily, there was no one around to notice the portrait of the Fat Lady swing open apparently of its own accord. Harry made it all the way to the owlery without being discovered.

None of the owls took kindly to being disturbed when they were just settling down to sleep for the day, but twelve of them obediently flew off when Harry tied a letter to each of their legs.

He watched them disappear into the distance with a satisfied smile, and then turned to leave. All he could do now was wait.


	14. The Two Replies

"Harry, that's not going to work

"Harry, that's not going to work." Hermione said disapprovingly after Harry finished telling them his plan.

"Well, it's too late." Harry said smugly. "I've already sent them."

Hermione pursed her lips and shook her head patronisingly. "You should have told us first."

"Well, I think it's a smart idea." Ron said loudly. "You should do it to all the people on that list."

Harry's fingers automatically flew to the pocket of his robes, checking that the little folded square of paper was still there.

"No." Harry disagreed after swallowing a mouthful of pumpkin juice. "Just to the ones that are too far away to visit."

"Which ones are they?" Hermione asked, not being able to stop herself re-joining the conversation.

"Not here." Harry said in a voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. He glanced at Neville (who was sitting only a short distance down from Harry, Ron and Hermione. Neville had been looking over with a curious expression on his face, but when he caught Harry's eyes, he looked away immediately, his cheeks flushing red with embarrassment.) and Dumbledore (who was staring over at where Harry sat. Harry couldn't tell whether he looked angry, sad or even …nervous?)

"Come on, we'd better go." Hermione said, standing up. "Defence Against the Dark Arts first."

Harry and Ron exchanged exasperated glances, but stood up and followed Hermione out of the hall nevertheless. Harry had the uncomfortable feeling that Dumbledore's eyes were still piercing his back, and he tried to shake off the little feeling of regret that he wasn't talking to Dumbledore anymore. Because as much as he hated to admit it, a small part of him missed going to Dumbledore's office.

As Harry came out of Defence Against the Dark Arts with a detention already under his belt, he was struck by a sense of irony. If there wasn't this whole business with his twin, then the Umbridge thing would be The topic of conversation between him, Hermione and Ron. They would all be making a really big deal of this. It was strange, really, how something big and awful could make other awful things …not so awful.

Harry's brain was hurting with all this philosophical stuff. It was no wonder he had never liked Divination.

As soon as Harry had his first free period, he left Ron to struggle with his homework (which was already stacking up at an alarming rate), and started copying out some more forms.

His hand ached at the end, but he had a pile of neatly-written envelopes to be proud of. "Off to the owlery." Harry told Ron over his shoulder. Ron didn't look up from his work, a frown of deep concentration on his face.

"Somebody's got a lot of friends." A familiar-sounding girl remarked over Harry's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Harry asked in confusion, turning to see a pretty red-headed girl walking up beside him.

"All these letters." Ginny explained with a grin. "Who're they to?"

"Oh!" Harry realised. "Um …I don't know. Professor, uh, Trelawny asked me to send them for her."

"Oh." Ginny said, giving Harry a hurt, confused look. "Well, bye then."

Harry looked after her, feeling bad. "Wait!" he called. Ginny turned round. Harry hoped he was doing the right thing. Ginny seemed like the kind of person who could keep a secret, after all.

"Look, they're not from Professor Trelawny." Harry admitted. "I lied. They're …you know …Jane?"

Ginny's eyes widened in sudden understanding. She nodded.

"Well, I'm trying to find her and …it's a long story, but that's what the letters are for." Harry confessed. "Don't …don't go telling Dumbledore, or anyone, will you?"

Ginny shook her head, gave Harry a sympathetic look, and asked no more questions. "Well, I'd better be off." She said. "See you around!"

The term passed in a blur of homework and schoolwork and avoiding Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. The only moments worth remembering were the ones when Harry got a few replies from his forms, much to Hermione's surprise. Harry read through the filled-out forms eagerly, tossing some aside. He soon found the two he was looking for:

_Surname: __Smith_

_Number of persons in your residence: __2_

_Number of adults in residence: __2_

_Number of children (under 17) in residence: __0_

_Genders of persons in residence: __1 female, 1 male_

_Ages of persons in residence: __25 and 31_

Soon this one was discarded too.

_Surname: __Smith_

_Number of persons in your residence__: 6_

_Number of adults in residence__: 3_

_Number of children (under 17) in residence__: 3_

_Genders of persons in residence__: ADULTS: Female, female, male CHILDREN: male, male, male_

_Ages of persons in residence__: 85, 34, 34, 3, 5, 9_

"Oh well." Ron said sympathetically. "Better luck next time, hey?"

"Mm." Harry said miserably, tearing up the two letters and chucking them in the bin with the rest. He drew out his list and drew two neat lines. "Three down, seventeen to go." Harry said, trying to be positive.

"Yeah." Ron agreed. "Now, can you help me with this homework? It'll take all day at this rate!"

But apart from this day, the term whizzed by. It was strange really, seeing as how so much was happening and how much Harry was looking forward to the holidays. Time normally did the exact opposite of what you wanted, but this year Harry was lucky. It seemed like no time at all until Harry was sitting by the fire, cradling his scarred hand one evening …

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Yes, I'm sure." Hermione replied firmly. "Look, mum and dad really want me to stay over there for Christmas."

"Yes, but what if it's Her?" Ron pointed out. "You wouldn't want to miss out on that, would you?"

Hermione paused doubtfully, then turned to Harry. "D'you want me there?" she asked. Ron looked surprised, and a little annoyed.

"Well, I …I wouldn't mind." Harry said. He had been kind of hoping that Hermione would come… the three of them were kind of a group.

Hermione looked torn, but evidently the temptation of possibly meeting Harry's twin was too much of a temptation to pass. "All right," she said eventually. "I'll come but only on that day. I'll stay with my parents for the rest of the holiday."

"Fine." Ron said, but he looked disappointed.

But little did they know that there was a big shock in store for them.

**Wait till next chapter!! It is really exciting and the one after is gonna be even better!!**


	15. The fourth family

"Merry Christmas, Harry

"Merry Christmas, Harry!" Ron cried merrily, shaking Harry awake.

Harry groaned and sat up, reaching for his glasses. "It's not Christmas already?" Harry mumbled sleepily.

"Sure it is!" Ron grinned.

Harry sat up and checked the calendar on the wall. "No it's not!" he said triumphantly. "The 24th today."

"Damn." Ron said. "I knew I'd missed something. I'd told Ginny and everyone to pretend it was Christmas and everything was all set up. We would have told you eventually and your face …did I even get you for a second?"

"No." Harry lied. "You are so dumb, Ron."

Ron looked offended, but soon dropped the expression in light of more important things. "So …big day today." Ron said.

Harry nodded, not needing to ask what Ron was talking about. Today was the only day that Mr Weasley was free to take them to Croydon.

Harry didn't think he had ever had eaten breakfast so fast. He had a strange feeling deep in his stomach which he didn't think had anything to do with indigestion – it was more like nervous anticipation. His instinct was telling him that today was The Day. But he didn't want to voice this optimism – he could already imagine Hermione giving him a superior look and saying 'yes, well you said that the first time'.

As they sat silently in the car, Harry thought back to the day when he had first found out. It seemed like years and years ago – not just months. And in all that time, he had not once spoken to Dumbledore or Sirius …

Harry was brought sharply out of his daydream as he felt the car come to a stop. He looked around at the street they were parked in. It seemed a great deal better Brighton – Harry had to admit he had been doubtful, considering what he had heard about Croydon.

"Well, let's go then." Harry said, and made to open the door. Mr Weasley watched them nervously. "Look …won't you just tell me what you're doing?" he asked.

Harry wrinkled his nose whilst he considered the consequences. "Sorry Mr Weasley," he said eventually, "but I don't think we can."

Mr Weasley looked disappointed and turned his gaze to Ron, who shrugged awkwardly and opened the door.

"Which one first?" Hermione asked, clutching her book, that she had been reading in the car, with both hands and looking around at the wide street.

"Um …number 42." Harry said, looking at the white-painted brick at the end of the curved road. "We'll work our way down."

Hermione and Ron followed Harry, who quite liked the feeling of being in charge. It made him seem like he knew what he was doing, not groping around in the dark as he was in truth.

Harry rang the bell and stood waiting as it played a catchy little tune. There were voices inside, then Harry saw (through the misted glass in the door) a dark figure approaching.

"Can I help you?" A man asked, in the uninterested tone of voice that Harry had heard Uncle Vernon use on annoying salespeople.

"Yes, um, we're looking for a family called the Smiths." said Harry.

"That's not us." the man said, and started to close the door.

"Any idea where we can find them?" Harry asked quickly, as the gap closed.

There was a pause, then the door opened a little more and the man stuck his head round. "Number 43." he said. "Right opposite us." A hand appeared round the door and pointed over the road.

As one, Harry, Hermione and Ron turned to look. The house was almost identical to the one they were currently standing on the doorstep of, with two floors, white walls, and a sloping black-tiled roof. There was a silver car parked in the drive.

"Thanks." Harry said, turning back to the man, but the door was already closed.

"At least we won't have to search the whole street now." Hermione said, sounding hugely relieved.

Harry 'mm'ed, so it seemed like he was listening, but he was now focused on the house they were walking towards. It wasn't giving off any …special vibes, and Harry thought he would know if it were The House.

But it was worth a try. Harry rang the bell. There was a long pause, and Hermione was just suggesting that they might be out, when the door opened.

A shabby, plump-looking woman stood on the doorstep and Harry's heart gave a lurch. This woman looked nothing like his mum …but an awful lot like Aunt Petunia. And if they were cousins …

Harry tried to remain calm, despite his racing heart and the fact that he was trying very hard to stop himself from hyperventilating. There was a long pause.

"Well?" the woman asked, not unkindly.

"Oh, um …" Harry began, before trailing off again. The woman really did look an awful like Aunt Petunia.

Hermione and Ron were giving Harry strange looks. Harry pulled himself together. "Sorry …this is the Smith family, right?"

The woman's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Do I know you?" she asked Harry. "You look …familiar. What's your name again?"

Something inside him made Harry reluctant to tell the woman who he was. And if …if she was looking after Jane, then why had they moved? It was suspicious, no doubt, and Harry suddenly didn't trust this woman, however friendly she seemed.

"I'm …Dudley. Dudley Dursley." Harry lied.

"Wha …" Ron began, but Hermione must have elbowed him, for he fell silent.

"Oh." the woman said. "Well, can I help you?"

"Yes." Harry said. "Do you have a daughter?"

The woman looked even more suspicious and frowned at Harry. Suddenly she gasped in sudden understanding and took a step back. "You're …Harry!" she gasped, and made to slam the door.

Harry stuck his foot in the door just in time to stop it from closing. "I know she's here!" he yelled.

"GO AWAY!" the woman cried back. "Leave us alone!"

But Harry was stronger than the woman and he soon forced the door open.

"Where is she?" he asked breathlessly, noting that he was half a foot taller than the woman.

She backed away a little. "She's better off without you! She doesn't want you around!"

Harry felt his jaw drop. "Sh …she already knows?" he asked, gobsmacked. "Jane knew all along?"

The woman looked smugly at Harry.

"I knew what?" asked a voice. Harry turned sharply. At the top of a flight of stairs stood a girl wearing jeans. She was about Harry's age, and just as tall as him. She had long dark hair that appeared black but, when it caught the light from the open doorway, actually sparkled a deep red colour. But that wasn't what shocked Harry the most.

She had bright green twinkling eyes, which were now staring curiously at Harry. She had Lily's eyes.

"I said, I knew what?" Jane asked again, from the bottom of the stairs now. "And who the hell are you?"


	16. The Twin?

"Jane

"Jane?" Harry whispered, but he didn't need to ask. He _knew_ somehow, as though he had known all along that this would be where he would find Jane.

"How do you know my name?" Jane asked sharply. "Mum, who is he?"

"No one!" said Mrs Smith hastily, getting pink and flustered. "He just came barging in here …I don't know who on earth he is –"

"What are you on about?" Harry interrupted. "You know perfectly well who I am! Jane …I'm Harry."

Jane looked blank. "And?"

"Harry Potter."

"Oh, right!" Jane exclaimed. "The famous guy who got rid of old Voldemort? Well, what d'you want – a medal or something?"

Harry was confused. He turned to Jane's mum. "I thought …you said she knew!"

Mrs Smith looked uncomfortable.

"Will someone tell me what's going on here?" Jane cried exasperatedly.

Harry took a deep breath. "Jane," he began, "I'm your twin."

There was a heavy pause, then Jane gave a nervous laugh. "No you're not," she said uncertainly – her voice wavering. "I don't have a twin."

"Quite right." Mrs Smith agreed firmly. "What a load of nonsense!"

Harry gaped at her. "No – no, it's true!" he protested. "You're Jane Potter and you're my twin!"

Jane stared at Harry frostily. "So, the Daily Prophet was right for once. You _are _off your rocker. I – am – Jane – Smith – and – I –have – no – twin. Got that?" Jane said, but it sounded to Harry like she was trying to convince herself as much as him.

"Right, get out before I …before I phone my husband and all his friends to come." Mrs Smith said to Harry.

Harry didn't budge an inch.

"OUT!" Mrs Smith cried, drawing her wand. Harry's hand flew to his pocket, but he was too late. There was a BANG from Mrs Smith's wand, and Harry was thrown backwards out of the door, which slammed shut behind him.

Harry landed hard on the concrete, but jumped to his feet immediately.

"Let me in!" he cried, banging on the door with his fist. "I'm warning you – I won't go away until you listen to me!"

There was no reply.

"Damn!" Harry yelled, giving the door one last pound with his fist. Ron and Hermione were staring at him with unreadable expressions on their faces. Then Hermione spoke.

"What is she up to – that Smith woman?" Hermione puzzled. "It doesn't make sense."

Harry sat down with his back against the door and his arms resting on his knees. "What are we going to do?" he asked, sounding a lot calmer than he felt.

"We could blow the door down?" Ron suggested hopefully, fingering his wand.

"Ron, do you _really_ think that would make them listen to us?" Hermione sensibly pointed out.

Harry let them argue. He stood up and took a few steps back until he could see the whole house. He didn't know what he was looking for – maybe Jane's silhouette in the window, or an owl flying from the house to Azkaban to get Harry arrested.

But there was nothing.

"So what _are_ we going to do, then?" Ron was saying to Hermione.

"Stay here." Harry answered.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You're going to camp out on her doorstep? Oh, Harry –"

"_You_ don't have to stay." Harry interrupted. "But I am." He glared at Hermione, daring her to argue.

"Um …well, I'll go and tell dad." Ron said awkwardly. "I mean, I can tell him now, right?" he added quickly.

Harry shrugged and nodded.

"I'll go too." Hermione said suddenly, and Harry knew that they would be talking about him.

Harry sat gloomily on the step and picked at a loose piece of paving, lost in his own thoughts as he so often was nowadays.

After about ten minutes, Hermione came and sat down next to Harry. There was a pause.

"Hi, Harry."

Harry looked up in surprise. It hadn't been Hermione who had sat down next to him after all – it had been Jane.

"My mum's a rubbish liar." Jane said, by way of explanation. "I guess I kind of knew all along – I just didn't want to believe it."

Harry nodded and opened his mouth to say something, then closed it.

"So. How did you find out?" Jane asked. "Or did you know?"

"No, I …I found a box of photos and stuff." Harry said shortly.

"Right." Jane said.

Neither twin really knew what to say to each other.

"Why do you believe me?" Harry asked suddenly.

Jane paused. "Good question," she laughed. "Um …ok, when's your birthday?"

"31st of July." Harry said, with a grin.

"Well, there we go then," said Jane, returning the grin. "Me too."

There was yet another uncomfortable pause.

"So what happens now?" Jane asked.

"Um …I don't know." Harry admitted. "I hadn't really thought that far ahead."

Jane burst out laughing. "Yep, that sounds exactly like something I'd do! Just go barging in there and then start wondering what happens next!"

Harry laughed. It _did_ sound pretty ridiculous, now he came to think of it. "I guess you'll want to stay with your …with them, huh?"

Jane looked surprised. "No, 'course not. Not now!" She held up a large bag. "Look, I've packed."

Harry laughed in amazement. "Well, in that case …what are we waiting for?"

The two twins stood at the same moment and walked in step with each other to the car.

"God, I always wanted a twin!" Jane grinned. "Mind you, I was assuming that my twin was a girl."

If Harry had laughed, no one heard it. The cry of;

"That's them! Over there!" deafened everyone. Who knew Mrs Smith could shout so loud.

"Jane, get back here!" a man cried, walking towards Jane. "Oh, great" Jane muttered to Harry. "That's dad."

"And just where do you think you're going, little missy?" Jane's dad demanded.

"Uh, with my _twin_." Jane replied, emphasising the word.

"Oh, and you think that's your twin, do you?" Mr Smith asked.

"What did you say?" Jane asked, frowning in confusion.

"I was just saying that you don't have a twin!" Mr Smith repeated.

"You didn't say that." Jane said. "The way you said it …you made it sound like I _do_ have a twin! You've been lying to me! Both of you!"

"So you believe this brat over your own parents, do you?" Jane's dad bellowed.

For the first time, Jane hesitated. Only for a split second, but it was enough to make Harry take a deep intake of breath. "Yes. Yes I do!"

This obviously wasn't the answer that Mr Smith had been expecting. "Well, you have no say in the matter! You're under 18 and you have to live with your parents!"

"BUT YOU'RE NOT MY PARENTS!" Jane cried. "I don't even look anything like you!"

"Because you look like your Nan!" Mrs Smith said, joining in the argument.

"The Nan that I've never seen!"

"Because she's dead!"

"But I've never even seen photos!" Jane pointed out. "Why? Why no photos of this Nan that I supposedly look just like? Answer me that!"

They couldn't. Jane's parents stood in silence. Then Mrs Smith promptly burst into tears. "It was for your own good." She sobbed.

"Delilah!" Mr Smith hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Your mum was my cousin." Mrs Smith explained miserably. "When she died, Dumbledore gave you to me and Derek to look after. We were overjoyed! I had always wanted a child, but I could never have one of my own. We knew that one day you would be reunited, but we couldn't bear to give you away, Jane."

This sudden outpour of truth seemed to greatly unsettle Jane.

"So we ran." Mrs Smith explained, whilst Mr Smith stared at her in horror. "We didn't think Dumbledore would ever find us but …I guess he did. And now we're going to lose you anyway!"

Mrs Smith broke into fresh sobs.

"No he didn't." Harry said. Everyone looked at him in surprise – they seemed to have forgotten that Harry was there. "Dumbledore couldn't find you. So I did."

"Go you." Jane said cheerfully, but there was no mistaking the tears streaming down her face. Seeing her, Harry had to fight hard to keep his own tears from spilling.

"Please. Stay." Mrs Smith begged, taking Jane's hand. Jane stepped back.

"Mum …I mean, Delilah …" Jane rubbed her forehead in confusion. "I'm sorry. But don't you see? Things will never be the same again! I can't go back to my old life now that I know I have a twin. I'm sorry, but I have to go with Harry. You can …you can come, if you like, but …I just can't live with you any more."

Harry realised that he had lost his battle with his tears, which were now rolling down his cheeks.

"Bye." Jane said. She wiped a sleeve across her eyes and grinned weakly at her ex-parents.

Harry and Jane turned and saw Hermione, Ron and Mr Weasley standing awkwardly by the car.

"Um …hi." Jane said, with a little wave. Hermione grinned and Harry saw that she had been crying too.

"Well, hello Jane." Mr Weasley said faintly. "Nice to meet you."

Jane grinned. "Is this my introduction to the family?"

Harry grinned. Everyone clambered into the car and Mr Weasley drove off.

Jane looked out the back window as they drove off and looked at her parents standing there sadly. Jane waved a final goodbye as the car turned a corner. Her life as she knew it was over.

But she didn't know what was still to come.

Right, lots to say now and only 5 minutes to get off the computer! Um …ok, number 1, almost every reviewer asked me if Hermione was Harry's twin. Now, that is a GREAT idea, but I didn't think of it. So no. She's not.

Also, this is no way the end of this fic. No, there's LOADS more to come. Promise.


	17. The Burrow Again

Soz I havvn't updatd 4 agez bt I hd examz

**Soz I havvn't updatd 4 agez bt I hd examz. Damnd examz.**

There was an awkward silence when Harry finished speaking. Then Mrs Weasley burst into tears and ran forwards to embrace Jane. Jane looked surprised, but in a good way.

"Well," said Fred, who looked a bit dazed. "I still reckon me and George are the coolest twins around here."

"Aww, you guys don't get to have any fun," George said sympathetically. "Being identical is a great laugh."

"Hey, maybe we have a triplet!" Fred cried. "Separated at birth …"

"…cool!" both Weasley twins said together.

"Maybe we're all twins!" George continued. "Hey, Hermione! Want some help finding a twin?"

Jane burst out laughing. "Are they always like this?"

"Yup." Harry said with a smile. Jane laughed again.

"Well, you got the best deal." Jane said cheerfully. "I'd always wanted a big family."

Harry suddenly realised what Jane meant. "Oh, no!" he explained hastily. "No, I got sent to the Dursleys. But they were …um, evil, so I relocated myself." A thought struck Harry – had the Dursleys known too?

"Ooh, we should have a party!" Ginny suggested eagerly.

"Good idea darling!" Mrs Weasley beamed. "Oh, we can invite Hagrid and Lupin and Tonks and Sirius …does that sound good? Harry? Jane?"

"That sounds great." Jane said honestly.

"We can invite Tonks." Harry said.

"Why, what's wrong with the rest of them?" Jane asked.

"They knew." Harry said simply.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but did you use to like them?"

"Well …" Harry fell silent, suspicious of where this was going.

"There we go then!" Jane said. "You have to forgive them at _some_ point, Harry."

"Do I?" Harry muttered grimly.

"Invite them." Jane told Mrs Weasley.

Part of Harry was annoyed at the way Jane was arguing with him – but he supposed that that was what sisters did. The other half of him was relieved that he would be given the chance to see Sirius again without having the embarrassment of having to admit that he was wrong and he had invited them.

Mrs Weasley looked uncomfortable, and changed the subject. "Shall we have it tonight?"

"Tonight?" asked Mr Weasley, looking harassed. Harry suspected that he had been looking forwards to having a nice sleep after the chaos of the day.

"Well, why not? The kids go back to school soon."

This was something that Harry had been wondering about. Evidently Jane had been too. "Will I be allowed to go to Hogwarts?" she asked.

Mrs Weasley looked surprised. "Well, I …I don't see why not."

Jane looked worried.

"Just let Dumbledore try and stop you coming." Harry told her, threateningly. He meant it too – although some small part of him knew Dumbledore was right, there was still a lot of anger between them.

"Well, that's settled then." Mrs Weasley said happily. "I'll need some help with dinner."

"I'll help." Harry and Jane offered at the same time, trying not to laugh at the end.

Mrs Weasley smiled at them both. "No, you two have some catching up to do."

Fifteen minutes later …

"Okay, favourite colours." Hermione announced. "Jane, you go first."

"Okay …" Jane said thoughtfully, fiddling with her lip. "You're quite brave …"

"I am?" Harry interrupted, completely surprised.

"Duh!" Ron cried, whacking Harry over the head with a rolled-up newspaper. "You're, like, the bravest person _ever!"_

"Cool." Harry said.

"ANYWAY!" Jane said purposefully. "As I was saying …right, I go for …red?"

"Damn, you're good!" Harry said.

Jane leaned back smugly.

"Is this just a girl thing?" Harry asked.

"Okay, 3-1 to Jane. Harry?"

"Um …" Harry stared hard at Jane. Nope, nothing. "How am I supposed to know?"

Jane looked even smugger and started playing with her fingernails.

"Ok, I'll guess." Harry announced. "Pink?"

"Harry!" Jane laughed, offended. She chucked a pillow his way. "No way!"

Harry ducked. "Well, I dunno, I thought girls liked pink!"

"Not this one." Jane grinned. "Second chance?"

Harry shrugged hopelessly.

"I'll give you a clue." Jane said. "It's close to pink."

"Purple?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "Red, you idiot!"

"Wow!" Harry said. "Same as me!"

"Yes," Jane said sarcastically. "Well done, Harry."

Harry poked his tongue out at her. She poked hers back.

"Worst habit!" Hermione announced.

"Easy!" Jane said triumphantly. "You're always patting your hair down."

"I do not!" Harry said, self-consciously patting down his hair. Hermione, Jane and Ron burst out laughing.

"Right, my go!" Harry announced. He lunged forwards and grabbed one of Jane's hands. She squealed with laughter and tried to pull her hand away. "You chew your nails!" he grinned.

Jane tugged both hands free and held them both behind her back. "There's no proof!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Okay, 4-2. Harry, last chance …what's Jane's worst fear?"

"Spiders?" Harry guessed.

"Nah, they're cute." Jane grinned, biting a nail.

"The dark?"

"Not even close."

"Monsters?"

"Oh, come off it!"

"Drowning?"

"I _can_ swim, you know, Harry."

"I can't." Harry admitted. "Never got the chance.

"Aww, that's so cute!" Jane grinned.

Harry didn't see how it was cute, but guessed it was another girl thing. "Okay …small spaces?"

"Nope."

"Heights?"

"Finally!" Jane grinned. "Took you long enough!"

"How comes you're afraid of heights?" Harry asked curiously.

Jane looked down at the carpet. "No reason. I just am," she said, not very convincingly. Harry decided not to push it.

"Jane's turn." Hermione said.

"Oh, come on, that's unfair!" Jane moaned. "I'm supposed to guess what Mr not-afraid-of-anything is scared of?"

"Good point." Ron agreed.

"KIDS!" Mrs Weasley called up the stairs, interrupting the game. "EVERYONE'S HERE!"

"Did they all come together then?" Harry wondered as they trooped downstairs.

Mrs Weasley had invited more people than Harry had expected: he could see Hagrid, Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley, Mr and Mrs Granger, Neville (and his gran), Bill and Fleur, and, looking hesitantly at Harry; Sirius.

Harry quickly broke eye contact with his godfather.

"So what's this party in aid of, then?" Bill asked Mrs Weasley.

"Everyone, this is Jane." Mrs Weasley announced, by way of an answer.

Everyone looked blank, except Hagrid, Lupin, and Sirius. Harry was glad to see that no one else registered any recognition – they had obviously been as unknowing as Harry.

"She's …well, she's Harry's twin." Mrs Weasley continued.

There was silence whilst everyone took this information in. Feeling that she ought to say something, Jane said "Hi."

The silence seemed, if possible, to deepen.

Then; "Um, hi Jane." Neville said. "Nice to meet you."

Jane smiled in relief. "You too. D'you go to Hogwarts?"

Neville nodded. This seemed to be the cue for everyone else to speak, and soon Jane was surrounded by people greeting her and expressing their shock.

"Well, hello again Jane." Hagrid said, when it was his turn.

"We've met?" Jane asked blankly.

"Yeah, but you were only a baby." Hagrid explained.

"Oh, I get it!" Jane said. "Which one are you? Sirius? Lupin? Hagrid?"

"Yeah, tha's me, Hagrid." Hagrid said.

"Cool." Jane said. "Right, now Harry wants to say sorry for being mad at you. _Doesn't he?"_ she added, with a firm look at Harry.

Harry stared sullenly back with a look that plainly said 'no'.

"Don' worry abou' it." Hagrid assured Jane, looking sad.

"Well, I'm forgiving you on Harry's behalf." Jane said with a sweet smile.

"Tha's nice of yer." Hagrid said gratefully.

"You can't do that!" Harry protested to Jane.

"I just did." Jane replied innocently. "Anyone else you should be forgiving?"

Harry scowled at Jane.

"Hmm?" Jane prompted. She looked around the room and spotted Sirius standing a distance away, watching the pair of them. "What about him?"

Harry followed her gaze. "Nope," he said. "No way."

"That sounds like a yes to me." Jane said, walking off. "You coming?"

Harry stared in disbelief as Jane marched up to Sirius and shook his hand. Who the hell did she think she was?! He had no choice but to follow.

"Oh, I'm Sirius." Sirius was saying as Harry approached. "Harry's godfather. I must say it's great to see you two together agai …oh, um, hi Harry."

Harry didn't reply, but his gaze was cold enough to freeze a volcano.

"Well, um, well done for finding Jane." Sirius said. "I guess we all underestimated you!"

"I guess you did." Harry said flatly.

There was a silence. "Well, Harry would like to forgive you …"

"No I wouldn't." Harry interrupted firmly.

"Harry, what is your problem?" Jane asked impatiently. "Are you just gonna spend your whole life being miserable? This is your godfather – the only sane relative we have …oh my god."

Jane suddenly recognised the man she was talking about. "God, you're that physco killer guy from TV, aren't you?" She started backing away. "Harry, don't tell me we're related to a physco killer guy?"

"We're not related." Harry said coldly. "He's only our _god_father."

Sirius looked from Harry to Jane in shock. "No, wait!" he cried, as Jane opened her mouth to scream. "I've never killed anyone!"

"You've tried." Harry said truthfully. He suddenly felt a stab of guilt for what he was saying about Sirius, but pushed it aside.

Jane's eyes widened. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she said very fast.

"No!" Sirius cried. "Look …ask Mrs Weasley or, or someone. Would I have been invited if I was a murder?"

Jane looked slightly less terrified. "No …" she said slowly.

"There we go then." Sirius said, looking relieved. "Molly!"

Mrs Weasley looked over. "Hmm?"

"Am I a murderer?"

Mrs Weasley laughed. "Oh, sorry, Jane. I didn't realise. No, Sirius isn't a murderer. It was all some big misunderstanding."

Jane sighed with relief and scowled at Harry for letting her embarrass herself. He looked away innocently and wouldn't meet her eye.

"Sorry then Sirius." Jane said. "Now look, Harry. Why won't you forgive Sirius?"

"Just won't." Harry said childishly.

"What about all the good times you've had with him?" Jane asked, hoping her bluff would pay off. She had no idea if Harry had ever even met Sirius before.

Harry hesitated, remembering back to the time when he his newly-discovered godfather had invited him to live with him. He remembered the look on Vernon Dursley's face when Harry had told him that his godfather was a murderer.

"God you're stubborn!" Jane said in exasperation.

"Just like his dad." Sirius said wistfully.

"Fine!" Harry cried, throwing up his hands. "Fine! I forgive you, Sirius. And I'm sorry for ignoring you."

Sirius beamed.

"Now, just …go away." Harry said.

Sirius shrugged. "Better than nothing."

Harry wasn't going to forgive Jane for this. No way.


	18. The meeting with Dumbledore

Fanx 2 all mii reviewrs

**Fanx 2 all mii reviewrs!! I luvv reviewz!! I am hopin 2 hit 100 wivv this fic!**

"What if I'm not in Gryffindor?" Jane asked.

"Aww, don't worry, I'm sure you will be." Hermione assured Jane.

"Does Dumbledore even know I'm coming?"

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron, who looked just as blank as she felt. "I don't know," she admitted.

"Well, what if I'm chucked out?" Jane panicked.

"Oh, put a sock in it, won't you!" Harry grumbled. The memories of the party were still sore in his mind.

"Ooh, somebody's grumpy today," Jane said, hurt.

"Oh look, we're here!" Hermione said loudly. They had arrived outside the room to which they had been directed to find Professor McGonagall. Harry didn't feel like facing Dumbledore right away, so McGonagall was the next choice.

Harry knocked on the door.

Jane's heart was beating fast as she chewed the nail on her second finger. She didn't know why she was so scared, just that she was.

"Come in!" McGonagall's voice drifted through the wooden door. The door swung open of its own accord and Harry led the way in.

"Ah, how may I help you, Mr Potter?" Professor McGonagall. "Oh, and welcome back Miss Granger and Mr Weasley and …who's this? Sorry, I don't have my glasses on."

Harry took a deep breath. "Professor, this is Jane."

Minerva looked blank. "Sorry, my memory is awful these days. Jane whom?"

"Jane Potter," Harry replied nervously.

Professor McGonagall took a sharp intake of breath. "Well I never …" she whispered. "Is it really …?"

She stepped out from behind her desk and, putting on her glasses, squinted at Jane. She took a sudden step back and steadied herself on the desk. When she had regained her sense of balance, she took Jane's hand in her own trembly one.

"I never thought I'd see the day when the Potter twins came together," she whispered emotively. "Never, in all my years …it's wonderful to see you Jane."

"Um …it's nice to meet you too," Jane, quickly adding "professor"

"Dumbledore never said …"

"He doesn't know," Harry interrupted.

McGonagall looked shocked as she pushed her glasses further up her nose. "Well, no time to waste," she said, with an abrupt return to her usual self. "No time like the present …come along. We shall inform Dumbledore at once."

Harry considered arguing but soon thought the better of it; following the others back out of the classroom.

It seemed like no time at all until they had reached the stone gargoyle that marked the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Soon they were walking up the hidden staircase and McGonagall was knocking on the door.

"Come in," said the voice that was unmistakeably Dumbledore's. Harry hadn't heard it since Dumbledore's speech at the beginning of term and it surprised him to realise how much he had been missing it.

"Well, this is it," Jane whispered to Harry. Harry suddenly realised that this whole experience must be just as shocking for Jane as it was for Harry – maybe more. After all, Jane had just discovered that her parents weren't her parents. At least Harry had never had to go through _that. _But before this train of thoughts could go anywhere, they were entering Dumbledore's office.

It looked just the same as it had when Harry last saw it. The office never changed, it was always a comfortably-familiar rock in the middle of a sea of war and evolution. Harry wondered whether it had been the same ever since Hogwarts had been built. He tried to imagine one of the old headmasters from the portraits on the wall sitting behind the desk where Dumbledore was now. It was impossible. No one else seemed to _fit_, somehow. Dumbledore was, and always would be, the only person that Harry would ever visualise as Headmaster.

"Ah, hello Minerva," Dumbledore said pleasantly. "This is an unexpected visit. I hope our little guests aren't in trouble already?" His eyes twinkled as he spoke. Harry noticed, with relief, that Dumbledore was carefully avoiding Harry's earlier behaviour towards him.

"No, no," McGonagall said hastily. Her hand was fluttering as she straightened her glasses a little. "Well, um …"

Harry had never before seen Professor McGonagall at a loss for words, and it disturbed him.

"How shall I put this?" McGonagall mused.

"Take your time," Dumbledore said kindly, with not a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, headmaster, this is …this is Jane …Potter," the teacher finally managed.

Dumbledore reacted much the same way as Professor McGonagall had, though he better controlled his shock. Clambering gracefully (Harry had to admire how Dumbledore was graceful even at times like this) to his feet, Dumbledore paced towards Jane and Harry.

He looked Jane up and down for a second, then smiled, though his eyes were watery.

"I'm very glad to be meeting you again," Dumbledore told Jane.

Jane blushed a little, but didn't reply. As much as she told Harry that she had forgiven everyone, the fact didn't escape her that it had been Dumbledore who had arranged the separation in the first place.

"Well, I …however did you manage it, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Oh, it was easy enough," Harry said coolly. "I'm sure you just weren't trying."

Dumbledore frowned slightly as he realised that Harry still hadn't forgiven him.

"Well, I welcome you to Hogwarts, Jane," Dumbledore smiled warmly.

Jane smiled back – Dumbledore was too calm and pleasant for her to be angry with him. Besides, Dumbledore was something of a hero of hers and she had always wanted to meet the legendary old man.

"I can stay then?" she asked.

"But of course!" Dumbledore beamed. "You are very welcome here."

Jane inwardly sighed with relief, and then realised, to her embarrassment, that she had also sighed with relief _outwardly._

Dumbledore chuckled.

Twenty minutes later …

Harry, Hermione and Ron were sat waiting in the Gryffindor common room, when Jane burst in.

"Yes!" she screamed. "I made Gryffindor!"

Hermione squealed with excitement. "Well done! I knew you would!"

"Yeah, congrats." Harry said, though his voice showed only a trace of the excitement that Hermione's had.

Jane sat next to the other three, feeling content. The only thing missing from this happy picture were her parents. But she could live without parents. For now, anyway.

One hour later …

"Who _is_ that blonde guy over there?" Jane asked.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"The one giving you evils." Jane replied with a chuckle. "Woah, he's good at evils. He must _really_ hate you, Harry."

"Thanks." Harry said sarcastically. "Yeah, that's Draco."

"Oh, _that's _Draco!" Jane cried. "Oh …you're right, he does look like a smarmy bastard."

Harry laughed. "Ok, he's annoying me now. Why's he doing that? It's so annoying!"

"That's probably the idea." Hermione said wisely. "Just ignore him – he'll cut it out soon."

"Nah, boring." Jane grinned. "Don't worry, I have an idea!"

"Now why does that make me _more_ worried?" Harry asked sarcastically.

Jane laughed and walked off.

"This could be worth watching." Ron grinned. "You coming?"

"Hi Draco." Jane smiled sweetly (the kind of sweet that a few bags of sugar are – sickly sweet).

"Do I know you?" Draco asked sneeringly.

"No, I was just curious because I'm doing some research and I think it's great to be able to interview a real-life gay. So do you mind being my interviewee?" Jane asked, keeping a perfectly-straight face.

Harry, Ron and Hermione (who were listening from a distance) had to stuff fists and sleeves into their mouths to cover their hysteric laughter.

Draco was turning purple. "Are you calling me gay?"

Jane looked surprised. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you!" she protested. "I just …well, I saw you eyeing up Harry Potter, so I just assumed …oh, I'm really sorry."

Draco was turning even more purple. The expression on his face was enough to send Harry into another laughing fit that he didn't think he'd come out of for days. "I. am. not. gay," he said slowly, threateningly. Jane didn't look the slightest bit intimidated.

"Well, like I say, I'm really sorry," Jane gushed. "So …are you, like …bi, then?"

The purpleness of Draco's face a minute ago was nothing compared to what he looked like now. If ever someone looked like they were going to explode, cry, faint and commit murder all at the same time, Draco did. Harry, out of sight, was almost wetting himself by this time. Tears of laughter were streaming down his and Ron's face, and Hermione too was in hysterics.

"Who the HELL do you think you are?" Draco demanded.

"Me?" Jane asked sweetly. "I'm Jane. Jane _Potter._"

Draco's face froze in disbelief. Jane dropped the innocent act.

"Yeah, that's right. _Potter_. As in, Harry's sister," Jane stepped closer to Draco and drew herself up to her full height, standing on her toes, so that she could look down on Draco though she was slightly shorter than him. "I'd advise you not to mess with me. Not if you know what's good for you."

Jane turned haughtily on her heel and marched off, leaving Draco staring after her, gobsmacked. As soon as he couldn't see her face, Jane broke into a silent laugh.

"Well …it's a shame Harry needs a _girl_ to stick up for him!" Draco retorted desperately.

"You just wait," Jane muttered under her breath. "Wait until you see what this 'girl' can do."

"That. Was. BRILLIANT!" Harry laughed, as Jane reached them.

"Pleased to be of service," Jane said, with a mock bow.

"Ok, you are forgiven for _everything_," Harry said. "That was so worth it!"

_And the scene closes on these happy, laughing, innocent teenagers. If only the story could end here …_

_But, alas, there is more to come. Harry and Jane have no idea of what is coming. They have no idea that soon one of them will be in the most danger of their life._

Dun, dun DUN!! Soz for that last bit in _italix_ – it was kinda corny. Bt this should b gd. Realli!

O, & don't think i havnt noticd that people r reviewin less & less. Im not THAT dum.

REVIEW!! Please.


	19. The DA Dumbledore's Army

Right, just to warn you, I might skip lots of bits in this chapter because otherwise I will just be copying JK Rowling …and I

Right, just to warn you, I might skip lots of bits in this chapter because otherwise I will just be copying JK Rowling …and I really don't want to do that because it will show me up a LOT.

**So sorry if this chapter seems a bit disjointed, but I'll do my best.**

**Also, this chapter will be more from Jane's POV (but still third person) because it will make it a bit different.**

**But the chapter after this we'll have to go back to Harry because …**

**Oh, come on, you didn't really think I was going to give that away? Tee hee, now you'll have to wait in suspense.**

**Damn, I feel evil. **

**Right, enough chat. Let's get on with it. **

"Aww, that's cute," Jane grinned. "Who is she?"

"She's in Ravenclaw," Hermione explained. "I'll point her out at breakfast."

Hermione had just told Jane her suspicions about Harry's feelings for Cho.

"What about you?" Jane asked slyly.

"What d'you mean, what about me?" Hermione asked, blushing furiously.

"Well, you and Ron," Jane smiled. Hermione gaped. "Oh, come on, it's obvious!"

"I do not!" Hermione protested.

"Sure(!)" Jane said sarcastically.

Hermione was speechless.

"Don't worry," Jane said. "I'll keep your secret."

"It's …I'm …" Hermione was still at a loss for words. Then she seemed to realise it was pointless trying to argue. She looked at Jane and knew she wouldn't tell or keep going on about it. "Never mention this again," she warned.

"I won't," Jane said honestly. Then …"I think he likes you too."

Hermione didn't reply, but she smiled to herself in the near-darkness.

"Do we have Defence Against The Dark Arts tomorrow?" Jane asked.

"Yes," Hermione replied immediately. She had known the timetable off by heart since the third day of school.

"I'm scared," Jane admitted.

"Of Umbridge?" Hermione asked. "Well, as long as you keep your mouth shut …"

"Well, that's the point," Jane said. "I don't think I can. If Umbridge winds me up, then …well, I won't just sit there and take it."

"You'd better," Hermione warned.

"We'll see," Jane replied. "'Night"

- The next day in DADA -

"And who are you?" Umbridge asked as Jane sat down between Harry and Hermione.

Her sickly voice was already annoying Jane. "I'm new, professor." Jane replied simply.

"I meant, what is your name?" Umbridge repeated.

"I'm called Jane, professor Umbridge," Jane answered. She was trying her hardest to be polite – to keep her temper under control and keep her answers as short as possible so that nothing slipped out. It was hard, considering all the stories she had heard about what Umbridge had done to her twin.

Umbridge looked expectant.

"Oh!" Jane said suddenly. "Jane P …"

She was distracted by a sudden, sharp pain in her ankle, where Harry had kicked her. Eyes watering, Jane replied, "Jane Peterson, Professor Umbridge,"

Umbridge made a little note on a pink pad on her desk. Then silence fell again and the class resumed reading their textbooks.

After class …

"What was that for??" Jane demanded angrily, rubbing the sore red patch on her ankle.

"Sorry, but Professor Umbridge's working for the Ministry," Harry explained.

"And? Why don't we want the ministry to know?" Jane asked.

"Because …because they're not really on our side anymore," Harry explained.

Jane's eyes widened. "You mean they're working for Voldie?"

"Why d'you call him that?" Harry asked curiously. Most people didn't like it when Voldemort was called just that, but 'Voldie' was going a bit too far.

"Why not?" Jane shrugged. "Just a name. If I can call Hermione Hermy …not that I would Hermione, soz …then I can call Voldemort Voldie. Besides, everyone yells at me for saying his name so I had to adapt it a bit."

"But …" Harry knew there was something wrong with this, but he couldn't place his finger on what. "Well, you're making a joke out of it. This is _serious_, Jane."

"Yeah, I know," Jane said. "I'm not gonna say it to his face, am I? If I ever got near Voldie …mort, then I'm not gonna hang around calling him 'mouldy Voldie'. It's just a _name_ – the name's nothing to be scared of. Him in person? …well, that's a different story."

Those last words sounded awfully familiar to Harry. He remembered Dumbledore telling him _"fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself"._

Yeah, ok, I don't think he's said that yet if I'm working on OOTP timeline. But we can pretend he has. Just for the sake of the story.

"What are we going to do about Umbridge?" Jane asked.

"What d'you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well we can't just let her get away with this," Jane said firmly.

"But we can't go doing anything …_rash_," Harry said, equally firmly. Only a few weeks with Jane had told him a _lot_ about her personality.

"I know, I know," Jane agreed. "So …what do we do? We need to do something …behind her back, but so she notices. And we _really_ need to do something about our DADA lessons."

"But …what?" Ron asked.

"Harry can teach us!" Hermione suggested.

"WHAT?!" Harry cried. "No way!"

"Yeah, and we can offer loads of people to come along, 'cos it's not fair not to just keep Harry's talents amongst us," Jane said, with a cheeky grin at her twin.

**Heii, that rhymes!!**

"No way!" Harry protested. "I can't …I'm not …"

"Oh, don't be modest," Jane said. "You're great at DADA and you've had _loads_ of practice. If you've got the talent, why not share it? Think of all the poor students who are missing out on proper teaching this year!"

"But …" Harry began.

"And it will really wind Umbridge up if we're all really good at DADA!" Jane added tantalisingly.

"I suppose …" Harry began.

And so it was settled. And what was to be Dumbledore's army was started.

Right, next chapter we shall skip even more. Oh, and I just realised; what I wrote at the beginning of this chapter is NOT TRUE. We will not HAVE to go back to Harry until …a couple of chapters time.

**Hah, hah, now you have to be in suspense for even longer! Yippee!**

**Oh, and I may start getting a bit inaccurate after this point because it's all getting complicated because lots of stuff starts happening in OOTP at this point and so does stuff in my story and I'm trying to keep things as normal as possible apart from Jane so I haven't quite worked out where everything fits yet.**

**So, sorry for that in advance. It may not happen, but it may do, and I'm sure my eagle-eyed reviewers will not miss a thing so I'm telling you BEFORE you spot it, so you're expecting it.**

**Right. If that makes sense.**

**As I said, I'll try my best to make sure it doesn't happen.**

**Oh, and readers of OOTP should be able to guess PART of what is coming next chapter. Work it out, guys!**


	20. The Dream in the Night

Hi Hi! Yeah, it's me – I'm finally back!! cheers

**Sorry I abandoned you for so long, but I had computer problems followed by a mixture of a lack of wanting to update and writer's block (even though I knew what was going to happen). Anyway, that's not a good combination and that's why I haven't updated for, like, two months. Is that right? Two months? Well, to make up for it, this will be a specially long chapter.**

**So, here comes Chapter …what number am I on? …20 (I had to look that up). It's a good one, promise.**

**Chapter 20**

**Oops, I lied. One more comment. I just read my last chapter (yes, I forgot my own story) and I have noticed that this chapter we will be jumping forwards in time quite a LOT. As in, they are still in the same year, but at the end of the year. And …they've done their OWLs.**

**Smart readers may have noticed that during their OWLs, Harry falls asleep, la la la, etc, bang, Sirius is dead. But with Jane around, things have gotten a bit delayed, so that hasn't happened. Yet. Damn, I've given too much away. Look, just read the fic, ok?**

**Oh, and all **_**italicised **_**bits will be copies from JK Rowling's OOTP.**__

"No more exams!" Jane sung happily. "Nooo more exaaams!"

"You've been singing that for _years_!" Ron complained.

"Don't exaggerate," Jane said seriously. "It's only been …four days. Four days of no more exams!"

Harry clamped his hands over his ears. "Someone tell her to shut up!" he joked.

"Hey, don't go getting all 'older twin' on me!" Jane said. "Hey, that's a good point, who's older?"

"Me," Harry said quickly.

"Oh, nice try!" Jane said. "But no. I am obviously waaay more mature."

Everyone laughed.

"Hey, what's wrong with that?" Jane asked innocently. "I am!"

This caused even more laughter.

"OK, let's put it to the vote," Harry suggested. "All those who think _I'm_ older?" He raised his own hand.

"Me," Ron agreed, doing the same.

"Sorry, Jane," Hermione said, trying not to laugh as she raised her own hand.

"Oh, that is so not fair!" Jane protested. "All gang up on me, why don't you? Tell you what, let's ask someone who knows. How about …McGonagall?"

"She's away," Hermione told her.

"Well, that's everyone then," Harry said. "Dumbledore's gone and everyone else is too far …what a shame(!)"

"Oh, you're just scared I might prove you wrong," Jane teased.

"Yeah, true," Harry admitted. Everyone laughed.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm tired," Hermione said sleepily. "See you in the morning, guys."

"OK, then," Harry agreed. "Night everyone."

Jane went off after Hermione and Harry and Ron went off to the boy's dormitories.

Soon it was time for lights out and Harry and Ron got into their beds.

"'night," Harry said, yawning. His head hit the pillow and his eyes closed …

He was walking along the cool, dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries again, walking with a firm and purposeful tread, breaking occasionally into a run, determined to reach his destination at last …the black door swung open for him as usual, and here he was in the circular room with its many doors …

_Straight axross the stone floorand through the second door …patches of dancing light on the walls and floor and that odd mechanical clicking, but no time to explore, he must harry …_

_He jogged the last few feet to the third door, which swung open just like the others …_

_Once again he was in the catherdral-sized room ful of shelves and glass spheres …his heart was beating very fast now …he was going to get there this time …when he reached number ninety-seven he turned eft and hurried along the aisle between two rows …_

_But there was a shape on the floor at the very end, a black shape moving on the floor like a wounded animal …Harry's stomach contracted with fear …with excitement …_

_A voice issued from his own mouth, a high, cold voice empty of any human kindness …_

"_Take it for me …lift it down, now …I cannot touch it …but you can …"_

_The black shpae on the floor shifted a little. Harry saw a long-fingered white hand clutching a wand rise at the end of his own arm …heard the high, cold voice say "Crucio!"_

_The man on the floor let out a scream of pain, attempted to stand but fell back, writhing. Harry was laughing. He raised his wand, the curse lifted and the figure groaned and became motionless._

"_Lord Voldemort is waiting …"_

_Very slowly, his arms trembling, the man on the ground raised his shoulders a few inches and lifted his head. His face was bloodstained and gaunt, twisted in pain yet rigid with defiance …_

"_You'll have to kill me," whispered Sirius._

"_Undoubtedly I shall in the end," said the cold voice. "But you will fetch it for me first, Black …you think you have felt pain thus far? Think again …we have hours ahead of us and nobody to hear you scream …"_

_But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; somebody yelled and fell sideways from _a bed_ on to the cold stone floor; Harry awoke as he hit the ground, still yelling, his scar on fire, as_ the lights turned on in the dormitory.

"Harry, you OK?" Ron asked in concern as he bent over Harry lying on the floor, clutching his scar.

"Yes, yes …I mean no," Harry shook his head to clear it. "I mean, _I'm _fine, but …I need to see McGonagall …"

"Not here, remember?" Ron reminded him.

Harry stood up in alarm. Of course, Hermione had said …but with Dumbledore gone and with McGonagall not here …there was no one to help Sirius …no one …

"Harry, what's going on?" Dean asked.

"I …I can't …" Harry said, feeling overwhelmed with terror. "I need to go to the Ministry of Magic …I have to save …I have to stop …"

"Woah, Harry, slow down!" Ron said, laughing weekly. "Right – who. Do. You. Have. To. Stop?"

Harry frowned and shook his head. He felt overwhelmed with a jumble of emotion: fear for Sirius; worry; stress; shock …his head felt like it was going to explode.

Meanwhile, Jane suddenly woke up in bed with a horrible sense that something, somewhere, was very, very wrong. She couldn't have told you what it was, it was just a feeling – a hopeless panicky feeling that made it hard to breathe.

Jane clenched her fists and focussed hard on breathing deeply. That was when she heard the voices. Two voices, raised in agitation. And one of them was unmistakeably her brother's.

She checked her clock – it was just after twelve at night. What was Harry doing up now? The voices seemed to be coming from the Gryffindor Common room, so Jane pulled on her dressing gown and tiptoed downstairs – pausing by Hermione's bed, but deciding not to wake the girl who was obviously sleeping so peacefully.

"HARRY, just CALM DOWN and tell me what's WRONG!" Ron yelled desperately, shaking Harry's shoulders.

"Just get out of the way, I have to …" Was all Harry was saying, trying to push his way past wrong.

"Have to WHAT?" Ron asked.

Harry just shook his head, still heading towards the door.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Jane asked, entering the common room.

Hearing her voice, Ron turned round in relief. "Oh, Jane, thank God – get your twin to calm down, won't you?" He turned back to point at Harry, but he had taken advantage of Ron's momentary distraction and was almost at the portrait hole.

"Harry, calm down," Jane said soothingly.

"No, no, you don't understand …" Harry told her. "I have to go, there's no time."

"OK, just calm down first," Jane told him, more firmly.

"How can I be calm now, when …when …" Harry said confusingly.

Jane looked Harry gabbling away, making no sense whatsoever and rolled her eyes. Then she took a deep breath.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, SHUT YOUR GOB RIGHT NOW!!" she screamed at the top of her voice.

Harry fell into a stunned silence.

"Wow," Ron said in awe.

"OK, now take a deep breath and start at the beginning," Jane told her twin, taking him firmly by the shoulders and sitting him down in a cushioned armchairs.

"There isn't time …" Harry began, but Jane fixed him with a stony glare and he shut up. "Okay …I had a dream, well it wasn't a dream but, it was a scar dream, you know, and I was in the Department of Mysteries again but Sirius was there and I was hurting, well it wasn't me it was Voldemort but it was still me because it was a scar dream and Sirius is hurt and he's going to die and he's all alone and we have to save Sirius and McGonagall's not here and Dumbledore's gone and what am I going to do and …"

Harry finally took a breath.

"OK, I caught enough words there to make me think I know what's going on," Jane said. "You dreamt that Voldie's got Sirius in the Ministry of Magic, right?"

Harry nodded. "And that's why we have to go because …"

"Harry, are you sure about this?" Ron asked doubtfully.

"What?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Well …it was only a dream, after all. You can't go rushing off to the Ministry of Magic because of a dream," Ron admitted.

Harry gaped. He hadn't expected this. He thought that Ron would be on his side, not against him …

"What's going on here?" A girl asked, walking into the room. It was Hermione. "I heard a yell …"

Jane coughed sheepishly. "Um …that was probably me …" She filled Hermione in on what had happened. Hermione gasped.

"But, Harry, you're not seriously considering going, are you?" she asked.

Harry gaped some more. Was no one going to believe him?

"Well, you know what Dumbledore said …this is what the Occlumency was for – this might be a trap from You-Kno…from Voldemort!" Hermione said.

"But I know it's true!" Harry protested. "I can feel it!"

"Sorry, Harry, but I think Hermione might be right," Jane admitted. "Look, shouldn't we at least check?"

"Check?" Harry asked disbelievingly. "How can we check?"

There was a silence. "It could work if we had Floo Powder," Hermione suggested.

"Yeah, but we don't," Ron pointed out sensibly.

"But I bet the teachers do!" Jane cried. For once, Hermione didn't worry about stealing from a teacher – she nodded her head in agreement.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Harry asked. "There's no time – let's hurry!"

"What about the invisibility cloak?" Hermione asked.

Harry sprinted up the stairs to the boy's dorm and came back a moment later clutching a piece of silvery fabric in his right hand.

"We won't all fit," Jane pointed out.

"No need – I'll go," Harry said. "It'll be quicker that way."

"Well, I'm coming too," Jane said. "I'm your twin – I'm not letting you go off by yourself."

"OK then, you two go and we'll wait here," Hermione said. "If Sirius is fine, come back. If …well, if he's not there, come back and get us and we'll all go to the Ministry."

Harry opened his mouth to argue but Jane shook her head. "No time for arguments, remember?"

Harry closed his mouth again and nodded, throwing the cloak over the two of them.

Hermione and Ron watched the portrait hole swing open – apparently of its own accord – and shut again.

"I hope Sirius is all right," Hermione said nervously.

Harry and Jane soon reached the nearest office they came to – Umbridge's. "OK, you wait outside …" Harry began.

"Uh, no way, twinnie boy," Jane interrupted. She opened the locked door; whispering "_Alohomora" _It swung open inwards and the two twins crept in, shutting the door behind them and throwing off the invisibility cloak. The office was pitch black. Harry whispered "_Lumos"_ and, by his wandlight, began to search for the jar of Floo Powder.

Jane, meanwhile, was squinting through the dim light until she spotted a lantern on the wall. She whispered a spell to light it and the whole office was suddenly full of light. Jane waited for her eyes to adjust and the spots in front of them to disappear and turned around to see Harry picking up a jar of Floo powder from the desk.

The office was horribly decorated with pink frilly things. Jane had never been one to like pink much, and this was just wayyy over the top. She felt like vomiting. Literally.

"OK, let's just hurry up and get on with this," Jane said hastily, but there was no need to tell Harry that. He was already peering into the unnaturally-green fire. Jane knelt down to join him.

"Hello?" Harry called. "Anyone there? Sirius? Please be here!"

"OI! SIRIUS!" Jane yelled, rather less politely.

Somebody appeared …but it wasn't Sirius. It was Kreacher.

"Is Sirius here?" Harry asked desperately.

"Master Black?" Kreacher asked. "No, Master Black is out."

"No!" Harry gasped. "See, I told you, this was just a waste of time! When did Sirius go out?"

"Quite a long while ago – he had a …caller," Kreacher said ambiguously.

"No, no, no!" Harry moaned.

"Hang on a sec," Jane said. "No offence, Harry, but Kreacher looks a bit like you."

"WHAT!?" Harry spluttered. "OK, Jane, now is not the time. We have to go save …"

"I haven't finished," Jane protested. "Look, when you lie, Harry, your eyes go kind of shifty."

"AND?"

"Look. At. Kreacher."

Kreacher was looking unspeakably nervous during this short argument. And, sure enough, he was displaying exactly the same traits that Jane had just been describing.

"But Kreacher always looks shifty …" Harry began. But he was interrupted by a very familiar voice in the background.


	21. The Incident in the Common Room

Hope that chapter was nice and long for you

Hope that chapter was nice and long for you. I'm keeping the habit of updating FAST now – to make up for before. So here is:

**Chapter 21**

But he was interrupted by a very familiar voice in the background …

It was on Kreacher's side of the connection, and it was the voice Harry wanted to hear more than anything in the world at that moment.

It was Sirius.

"Hey, Kreacher, who are you talking to?" he asked. "Is that …oh, Harry, what are you doing up this late?"

Jane squealed with excitement. "Ohmigodohmigodohmigod!" she said, all in on word. "Harry, it's OK – it's Sirius!"

Sirius was looking confused. "What's going on here?"

"It doesn't matter," Harry said. "Are you OK?"

"What?" Sirius looked even more confused. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"Great," Harry said. "OK, we have to get back now – Hermione and Ron will be worried."

"Wait, what is this …" Sirius began, but Harry and Jane had disappeared. Sirius gave Kreacher a very suspicious look and walked off, shaking his head in bewilderment.

For Hermione and Ron, it was agony to just be waiting around with no idea what was happening. The minutes seemed like hours, but finally the portrait hole swung open …to reveal Umbridge standing there, looking angry.

Hermione's brain was working away quickly. Had Harry and Jane been found? How much did Umbridge know? What should she say? Where were the twins?

"So it was you two making all the noise," Umbridge said, answering most of Hermione's mental questions in one sentence. Umbridge didn't know anything – she had just been woken by all the noise.

"Um …" Ron looked at Hermione, who shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."

"And _why_ are you out of bed at this late hour?" Umbridge demanded.

"Oh, uh, we were, um," Ron trailed off.

"Er, Peeves was flying around and we came down here to see what the disturbance was," Hermione improvised quickly. Ron nodded hastily and gave a big grin. The pair of them stood there like idiots, smiling fakely away.

Dolores Umbridge raised her eyebrows sceptically. But before she could express these doubts into words, Harry and Jane came bursting in through the door. Their cheeks were wet with tears (of relief, but Ron and Hermione weren't to know that), and at the sight of Umbridge they turned pale.

Jane gave Hermione a searching look, trying to work out what was going on, and what Hermione and Ron had told them.

Hermione was busy trying to work out what had happened. Both the twins had been crying, that much was obvious. So surely that meant …

"Ah, I see Mr Potter and Miss Peterson have joined us," Umbridge said sweetly. She looked at them expectantly, waiting for an explanation. She was disappointed. The twins said nothing.

"Would you care to explain why you are wandering around the school at this time of night?" Umbridge asked.

"Uh …we needed the loo," Jane lied, at the same time as Hermione said, "They were going to find a teacher to get rid of Peeves."

Umbridge smiled slowly – clearly relishing the chance to get four pupils in trouble – and one of them being Harry? Well, that made it all the better.

"I see we have some deception going on here," Umbridge said. "Well, in ordinary circumstances, you would get a detention or three, but seeing as you four are such bad students ordinarily …I shall have to see about a suspension from Hogwarts."

"NO!" The four of them cried together.

"Please, Miss," Jane said desperately. "I was just going to the toilet, honestly, and I met Harry outside the portrait hole just now – he'd been to find a teacher …. I …I didn't know that you weren't allowed to go to the toilet – if I'd have known …" Jane sniffed and her eyes were watering sadly. Resisting the urge to spit in Umbridge's face, she caught the professor's gaze and held it.

"Please don't expel me. My parents will be so disappointed in me – did I mention that my dad was good friends with the Minister of Magic? – yes, and he'll be so disappointed with me for ruining the family name and …well, daddy can get a bit angry sometimes and I'd hate for him to be angry with you as well, and, Oh! It's all my fault …" At this last sentence, Jane burst into tears and ran forwards to hug Dolores Umbridge.

Umbridge backed away, alarmed. "Yes, yes, dear," she said nervously, not knowing what to make of this wretched, blubbery child who was messing up her robes. "Well, we wouldn't want to get your father angry with me …I mean, with you, would we? Maybe I will consider your staying."

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Jane said, beaming through her tears and wiping her eyes on her sleeves. "Oh, you're the kindest teacher ever, really! I'll be sure to tell my dad all about how wonderful you are!"

Umbridge smiled smugly. "Well, I am quite kind …" she admitted, less than modestly. "Now, don't let me catch you out of bed again."

Jane nodded eagerly and waved as Umbridge left the common room. Then she turned around.

Hermione, Ron and Harry were staring at her – mouths hanging open, eyes wide in shock.

"Thank you, thank you," she said, taking mock bows. "Yes, I'm brilliant, I know."

"Wow," said Harry. "How do you DO that?"

"What happened with Sirius?" Hermione asked, with an abrupt change of subject.

"Oh," Harry said. "Yeah, he's fine – it was all just a …well, I hate to say it, but I guess I was wrong."

"But that's _awful_!" Hermione cried.

"What?!" Harry, Ron and Jane cried.

"Well, it's obviously a good thing that Sirius is alive," Hermione added hastily. "But don't you see what this means? Voldemort is sending you false information. He's doing exactly what Dumbledore said he would! Harry, you're going to have to start Occlumency."

"Fine, fine," Harry grumbled. More Occlumency meant more time with Snape. And Harry _really_ didn't want to spend any more time with Snape. But it didn't look like he had much of a choice, did it? "I'll go and ask Snape tomorrow."

"Well …" Jane said. "I don't know about you, but if Sirius is still alive and there's nothing more to worry about …I'm going to bed!"

**Will be back soon with chapter 22!!**


	22. The Kidnapping

Chapter 22, as promised: Chapter 22, as promised:

**(Oh, and the bits in **_**italics**_** this time are actually mine – not JK Rowling's)**

Harry, Jane, Hermione and Ron were all very tired that morning, as you would expect from getting up in the middle of the night and rushing around checking that their godfather wasn't dead.

"Harry, have you heard?" Neville asked at breakfast. "Dumbledore's back!"

"Yeah, great," Harry said sleepily, not really listening.

"Uh, Harry?" Neville said. "Did you hear me just then? Hello?" he waved his hand in front of Harry's face.

Harry's head snapped up. "Huh?"

Neville rolled his eyes. "What were you _doing_ last night? You're all so tired! Anyway, as I was saying …Dumbledore's back! He got back this morning – everyone's talking about it."

"Yes!" Harry cried. "He's back! Jane, come on, we have to go see Dumbledore!"

"Wha'?" Jane asked sleepily. "Someone say Dumble …"

Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her seat. She stumbled after him as he tried to run, pulling her after him. Hermione, who was slightly more alert than Ron, was keeping up with the conversation and went after them, calling "Ron! Come on!" over her shoulder until he gave in and came too.

The password hadn't changed, so Harry - followed by Jane, followed by Hermione, followed by Ron – burst into the headmaster's office, where the seat behind the desk was finally filled by the one man who belonged there. Albus Dumbledore was back.

"Ah, hello," their beloved headmaster said, his eyes twinkling as they always did. "I thought you four would be coming to see me. I had a curious conversation with Sirius Black this morning, you see."

Jane could only imagine what that conversation must have been like. Poor Sirius. They had left him so confused.

"It would, however, be nice to hear your side of the story," Dumbledore prompted.

"Oh, um, yeah," Harry said. "Shall I tell it?"

Jane nodded. "It _was_ your dream."

Dumbledore looked intrigued by this comment, but he stayed silent and let Harry explain.

Dumbledore didn't say anything that Hermione hadn't said already – that this was very worrying; that Harry should be careful; that he should recommence Occlumency; etc, etc …

Harry was disappointed by that. He had thought that Dumbledore would have known exactly what to do (Harry was hoping for any solution _other _than lessons with Snape). But it was still good that Dumbledore was back again, in his rightful place.

Harry continued staring up at the canopy above his bed, his eyes tracing the intricate scarlet patterns from one end to the other, until his eyes grew too tired and began to close. He didn't want to sleep – his scar was already hurting and he knew the dreams would come …

"Bring him in," Harry was saying, in that dreadfully familiar cold voice. He was sitting at one end of a long table, which stretched the length of an unfamiliar hall. The only other being in the room was Lucius Malfoy – Draco's father.

At the sound of Harry's voice, Lucius hurried out of the room and came back with a pitiful-looking creature – a house elf. The house elf was brought closer to Harry so that Harry could see its pitiful eyes – watering in fear and shame – and its snivelling nose.

"You failed me, Kreacher," Harry told the small creature. "You know what happens to those who fail Lord Voldemort."

It was a statement, not a question, and it seemed accurate – by the way his sniffling increased in panic, Kreacher certainly did know what happened to those who failed the Dark Lord.

"Please," he sniffled. "It wasn't my fault."

"Lord Voldemort spares no pity for house elves," Harry said coldly.

"But the boy believed me …" Kreacher protested. "It was the girl …"

"What girl?" Harry asked. "The Mudblood? The Granger Girl?"

"I do not know," Kreacher said pathetically. "She looked like him …"

And Harry was seeing into Kreacher's mind – he was seeing the boy and his companion – the girl who looked remarkably like him; the girl who wasn't the Granger girl …

And Harry was back in the magnificent hall, where the house elf was sniffling pitifully on the ground.

Harry raised his wand and spoke the words. There was a flash of green light and the elf – the elf who had failed Lord Voldemort – was dead. It was a shame to waste magic on such lowly creatures as house elves, but it had to be done. Now …for the matter of the girl …

Harry turned back to Lucius Malfoy, who cowered in the corner – afraid, afraid of him. Harry gave Malfoy his orders and sent him out into the night. Now there was nothing to do but wait …wait and wonder …to wonder about this unknown girl who had caused him so much trouble …

Harry woke up suddenly, in the middle of the night – thankfully not screaming this time. He was covered in sweat and his scar was killing him …

When the pain had diminished enough to think clearly, Harry thought back over his dream. Voldemort had found Jane …but he hadn't, had he? He was still trying to trick Harry – he could use the mind connection now …he would have to start Occlumency again …

It was no use trying to think like this …his brain wasn't working properly …he must be …tired …

And sleep enveloped him once more and thankfully he did not dream.

"Oi! Wake up, sleepyhead!" Was the next thing Harry knew.

"Huh? Wha'?" Harry said sleepily, his hand reaching out out of habit and fumbling for his glasses.

Ron's face came swimming into focus when they were on.

Harry sat up yawning. "'Kay, I'm awake."

Ron laughed at Harry's sleepy state and walked away to get dressed. Harry flopped back onto his mattress. There was enough time to lay here a little longer …

Harry and Ron were stuffing toast into their mouths when Hermione sat down with them. She frowned. "Where's Jane?"

"What d'you mean, where's Jane?" Ron asked. "Shouldn't we be asking you that?"

"No, I'm serious," Hermione insisted. "She wasn't here when I woke up, so I though she'd be with you."

"Maybe she's turned over a new leaf and got up early to do some studying," Harry laughed. Ron nearly choked on his cornflakes.

"Seriously, guys, where is she?" Hermione asked desperately.

"I dunno, she'll turn up," Ron said. "She probably just wandered off – you know Jane."

But by the time it got to lunchtime, Jane still hadn't showed up.

"Gah, Professor Burns is the _worst___teacher ever," Ron said.

Harry stopped where he was. Alarm bells were ringing in his brain. Something that Ron had said …the worst teacher …teacher …Kreacher …Jane …

Suddenly his dream came back to him. He had dismissed it, but now Jane was missing …

"They've got her!" Harry blurted out.

"What?" Hermione and Ron asked together.

"Voldemort! He's got Jane, I know he has – my dream …"

"Come on, Harry," Ron said. "After Tuesday, you're not going to believe your dreams, are you? Can you seriously imagine anyone trying to kidnap Jane? They'd get the shock of their lives."

"No, that's what I thought but …well, she's missing, isn't she?" Harry cried.

Hermione looked worried. "He has a point, Ron, Jane's never been missing this long before …"

"But these people don't even know Jane _exists_!" Ron cried.

"They do now!" Harry argued. "That was my dream – because Kreacher saw Jane, didn't he? And he told Voldemort and Voldemort told Lucius Malfoy to go to the pub …and speak to Hagrid! And Hagrid must have told Lucius – you know what he's like – that dragon's egg …"

Hermione was looking alarmed. "So you think they've kidnapped Jane?"

"Yes!" Harry cried. "It all makes sense …oh my god …" the truth of it sank in. "They've kidnapped Jane. What if they've killed her? What if they've killed my twin …"

Hermione's eyes were wide and fearful. In one sudden movement, Harry dropped the books he was carrying and ran off down the corridor towards Dumbledore's office.

Somebody had kidnapped his twin, and he wasn't going to let them get away with it.


	23. The Panic

Chapter 23 Chapter 23

"Harry, come back!" Hermione cried, running after him (even the thought of Jane's being in danger wasn't enough to make her mistreat books).

Ron sighed - he still didn't believe that anyone would be stupid enough to try and kidnap Jane - and followed his friends down the corridor, trying (unsuccessfully) to look cool at the same time.

Harry was already running up the stairs (despite the fact that they were revolving anyway), by the time Hermione caught up with him. Ron wasn't far behind as they burst into Dumbledore's office, panting.

There weren't many things that could make Albus Dumbledore look surprised …and this wasn't one of those things. He raised his eyebrows questioningly, but that was all. Harry opened his mouth to blurt out everything, but the sight of someone else in the room stopped him.

The man sitting opposite Dumbledore, who had been in animated conversation with the headmaster when Harry had arrived, was Severus Snape. Even the sight of him made Harry feel nauseated. Something about his lank, greasy hair and the cold, dead look in his eyes was simply repulsive.

"Harry, I'm in the middle of a meeting at the moment," Dumbledore said pointedly. "Could you wait outside a minute?"

From the look on Snape's face, he obviously though they were getting off lightly – but with Dumbledore in the room, he didn't dare argue.

"Sir, this is important …" Hermione said, giving Dumbledore a pleading look.

Maybe it was the fact that Hermione Granger had just spoken back to a teacher, or maybe it was simply that Dumbledore had spotted the urgent look of panic in Harry's eyes. But whatever the reason, Dumbledore obviously saw that something important was going on, because he sighed, pushed his glasses further up his nose and said:

"Excuse me, Severus, I'll just be a minute."

Before walking out of the door and holding it open for the teenagers to join him. The outraged look on Snape's face was one that Harry would have enjoyed enormously …had the situation been less urgent.

"I hope you have a good explanation for this," Dumbledore said warningly.

"Jane's been kidnapped," Harry said quickly, getting straight to the point. "Allegedly," Ron muttered under his breath, to be awarded with a sharp look from Hermione.

This time, Dumbledore did look surprised. Just for a moment, a brief look of astonishment flickered across his face, to be replaced with his usual calm.

"Are you sure?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Harry said, struggling not to speak too fast or get carried away. "I had another dream …and I thought it was a trick, obviously, but now Jane hasn't turned up since lunch, so …"

Dumbledore coughed. "Yes, but isn't Jane – pardon me saying this – a little …headstrong …at times?"

It was true, and Harry knew it, but he scowled anyway.

"Jane wouldn't run away," Hermione assured Dumbledore. "Well, she _would_ …but not without leaving a note, at least."

Dumbledore sighed thoughtfully. "Do you know where she is being held?"

"Uh …no," Harry admitted. He hadn't thought quite that far ahead yet.

"Well, I suggest that until we discover that information, there is nothing we can do," Dumbledore admitted.

"Nothing?" Harry asked in disbelief. "Nothing at all?"

"What would you suggest we do?" Dumbledore asked calmly, turning the tables on Harry.

Harry was stumped. "Well …I don't know …but we should be doing _something!_ We can't just sit here!"

"I'm sorry, Harry, but I see no alternative," Dumbledore said soberly. "I will finish my meeting with Professor Snape and then I will see about gaining more information."

Harry gaped as Dumbledore walked back into his office, leaving them standing outside.

Hermione looked uncomfortable – she couldn't quite bring herself to argue with the words of a teacher (especially a head teacher), but what Dumbledore had said wasn't quite what she had expected.

"I'm not just going to go back to lessons," Harry said determinedly, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Well, we aren't any use just hanging around here, either," Hermione pointed out.

"Look, there's really nothing we can do, so let's just go back to class and wait for Jane to turn up," Ron suggested, trying to be the sensible one for once.

But the reaction from Hermione and Harry wasn't quite what he had expected. They both turned on him accusingly.

"Ron! How can you say that?" Hermione asked, sounding hurt. "Jane's not going to rescue herself, you know!"

Ron opened his mouth to argue that point …and shut it again hastily.

"OK, what are we going to do?" Harry asked, to himself more than anything. His brain wasn't quite working properly – the shock from Jane's disappearance, and Dumbledore's words – and the room was hot and stuffy - and his scar was hurting like mad, but now wasn't the time …

Harry fought his way back to the present. "OK, let's go …outside …where I can think clearer and …and we'll figure out …where Jane is and …and stuff …"

Hermione peered at Harry – as if seeing him for the first time. He didn't look well – he was pale, and from the way his hand kept rubbing at his forehead, his scar was hurting. "Are you OK?"

It was a stupid question. Harry had just discovered that Lord Voldemort had kidnapped his twin sister. It didn't warrant an answer, so he ignored the question and started heading down the stairs.

He had just reached the bottom of the stairs when his scar suddenly sent a stab of pain – momentarily wiping the thoughts out of his brain. Harry fought hard to stay conscious – he didn't want another vision now …or did he? Surely, wherever Voldemort was, Jane was too?

"I'll be back in a sec," Harry said, trying to act casual. "Just need the loo."

He walked off as slowly as he could manage at the moment – which was just slower than speed walking.

He hesitated for a second – did he really want to see this? – then shut his eyes and let the vision come …

"_You say you have the girl," Harry said, in that terrible voice that wasn't his. It was full of cold triumph and power. Harry was back in that long dining hall again, and the scene had changed little._

"_Yes, my Lord," Lucius Malfoy agreed, in a voice that barely trembled._

"_Where is she then?"_

"_She is in the basement. We have …places where prisoners can be kept there," Lucius explained._

"_Then why are you still here?" Harry demanded. "Bring her."_

_Lucius nodded and scurried out of the room. Harry waited. Lucius was a long time coming. Harry made a mental note to warn Lucius to be quicker next time._

**(well, well – so Lord Voldemort makes mental notes to self! Sorry, that was kind of inappropriate at the moment, wasn't it? Sorry)**

_But finally the man returned, with a girl of Harry's age. She was also the same height as him, with the same colour hair …and the same eyes. Eyes that were full of defiance and hatred. It was obviously only the wand at her throat that was keeping her from running away._

"_Ah, so this is little Miss Potter," Harry said, with a cold laugh that betrayed no happiness. "How nice to meet you at last."_

_Jane's face showed that she didn't return the remark, though she held her tongue and kept her head held high._

"_Have a seat," Harry offered, gesturing at a plain wooden chair near his own. At a shove from Lucius, Jane stumbled over, but she didn't sit._

_Harry raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to sit?"_

_Still Jane said nothing. She was beginning to annoy Harry, but now wasn't the time to lose his temper …not yet, not yet._

"_You have more spirit than your brother," Harry said, in a voice that would have been impressed if it had ever displayed any emotion other than cold, detached cruelty. "Now, to business. I am going to make you an offer, Jane. How would you like to become a Death Eater?"_

_Jane's eyes flashed with something that could have been shock, or anger, or disgust …her eyes narrowed in obvious hatred._

"_Well? Is our little twin not going to speak?" Harry asked. "I have ways of making you speak, little girl. Yes, or no?"_

_Jane said nothing._

"_So you still aren't speaking," Harry noted. "That's good. If you had given in that quickly, I would not have wanted you. But yet, you must still be punished for disobeying Lord Voldemort. We have a while. It shall be some time until your brother turns up, I think." He raised his wand and …_

…no, he didn't, he was Harry. Harry, and he didn't want to see what …

…_opened his mouth to speak …_

…no, his mouth was opening to scream, not to speak. He was Harry, Harry Potter and he had to wake up …

… "_Crucio!" and Jane was screaming …_

…but he was Harry, Harry was screaming, but it was too late; he had seen.

"Harry!" Ron called from the present. The last remnants of Harry's vision faded as he found himself back at Hogwarts. Ron was standing over him, looking terrified. "Hey, Harry, are you OK?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Harry said, as the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place. Malfoy Manor. That's where Jane was, because Lucius had said "W_e have …places where prisoners can be kept"_.

He had said "WE have places," so surely that meant that it was _his_ house, didn't it?

"Malfoy Manor," Harry said. "We have to go to Malfoy Manor."

**Ooh, it's getting exciting now! Sorry, that's really sad getting excited by my own fic, isn't it? Especially as I know how it ends and have done for several weeks …months, even.**

**Thanks to all my loyal reviewers, especially:**

**Krissy Chrissie xxx**

**AshLikesCash**

**(Except the two above are my best mates, so they don't really count because they **_**have**_** to be nice. Sorry, you guys!)**

**PrettyFanGirl**

**Murdrax**

**Cyiusblack (for the constant "update soon"s!)**

**MeshiGohiku (though I'm not sure about the last review …)**

**And all my other reviewers – anonymous or otherwise – who haven't reviewed since I had my loooong writing break. I suppose I deserve it – that's my punishment for not updating for ages – the loss of about …ten loyal reviewers. Sorry guys! But a special thanks to all the rest of you who found it in their hearts to forgive me. Luvv u all!! (not in a freakishly pervy way, or anything, of course)**


	24. The Plan

The scene hadn't changed in the five minutes or so that they had been gone – apart from the absence of Snape, of course

The scene hadn't changed in the five minutes or so that they had been gone – apart from the absence of Snape, of course. But then, the office hadn't changed in years, so why would it now? It seemed strange, at times like these, that some things could stay the same when so much was changing all around them. Sometimes it felt like things were moving so fast that Harry could hardly keep up.

"So I take it you have found out where Jane is, then?" Dumbledore asked, with his usual calmness.

"Yes, she's at Malfoy Manor," Harry said hurriedly. He had come to see Dumbledore as soon as he had worked out where Jane was being kept. From what he had seen in his vision, there was no time too waste. Sometimes he could murder Dumbledore for always being so bloody _calm!_

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "I see."

"Well?" Harry prompted, impatience making him rather ruder than normal. "What are we waiting for?"

"Oh, Harry, we can't leave _now_!" Dumbledore explained, as though that had been obvious from the start. "We must wait for backup – there simply are not enough of us to just go charging in. They shall be expecting us – we'll need a plan."

"But Jane's being …hurt!" Harry cried.

"And her situation will not be improved if we get ourselves caught as well!" Dumbledore pointed out. It made sense, but Harry wasn't in the mood to listen.

"So what are you saying?" he asked furiously. "We just sit around and make a plan? Oh, and then we have to double-check the plan, and come up with a backup plan. Oh no, and we can't go whilst it's windy, can we? We'll have to wait until winter, then the weather will work on our side!"

Luckily Dumbledore was one of those people who gets sarcasm. He sighed. "Harry, I appreciate the need for urgency, but there are only four of us …"

"Well, if you're not coming, then we'll go anyway, won't we?" Harry said, spinning on his heel to face Hermione and Ron who, seeing the look on Harry's face, nodded quickly.

"Harry, you're being ridiculous," Dumbledore protested. "Just calm …"

"WHAT IF I DON'T WANT TO BE CALM?" Harry roared. "Because you're Dumbledore, and you're always so calm, aren't you? And where does that get you? NOWHERE! Stuck behind a DESK, giving orders to little KIDS who don't even CARE – who don't even know who you really ARE! Well, we're GOING whether you LIKE IT OR NOT!"

And on that bombshell, Harry stormed out of Dumbledore's office. He didn't get the chance to slam the door – as Hermione and Ron were following him out – but he would have done otherwise.

"So …what are we going to do now?" Hermione asked tentatively.

Harry turned to face her, looking incredulous. "Did you not _hear_? We're going to Malfoy Manor!"

Ron didn't look sure about that fact, but at the moment, he thought he'd rather face a bunch of Death Eaters than argue with his best friend.

"Well, how are we going to get there?" Hermione asked practically. Ron's heart lightened as he realised that they might not have to face a bunch of Death Eaters after all.

"You people have _brooms_, don't you? Or, better still, let's hijack the Knight Bus – I've always wanted to do that," Harry said, without turning around or slowing his walk back to the common room.

"But we don't even know where Malfoy Manor _is_!" Hermione pointed out.

Harry's step faltered. Then he turned around and started walking back the other way – towards the Great Hall (because, despite the excitement, it was still lunchtime).

"Where are we going?" Ron asked. Hermione was running to keep up – she wasn't as tall as the two boys.

"Great Hall," Harry said simply.

"Uh, why?" Ron asked. "Not that I'm not hungry and all, but aren't we in a hurry? Why d'you wanna eat?"

"To see Malfoy," Harry explained.

Ron fell silent. "Ah." That explained a lot.

Draco Malfoy wasn't hard to find. Surrounded by his usual gang of admiring Death-Eater-wannabes, he was showing off about some Gryffindor first-year he'd deducted house points from.

Harry marched past the Gryffindor table, past Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. A few curious heads followed his path in confusion – wondering if Harry Potter was really as mad as he was said to be.

The conversation stopped as Harry drew near. Draco, who had just cracked a joke, looked up when nobody laughed. When he saw Harry, his eyes grew cold and he glared at Harry. "Looks like the Muggle-lover's decided to come and join us!"

Harry didn't have time – much as he would have loved to – to argue with Draco Malfoy, so he simply drew his wand and pointed it at the group of Slytherins.

"Look, I'm in a hurry, Malfoy. Just tell me, nice and quick, where you live and how to get there from here."

Draco laughed at the strange demand, before realising that no one else was laughing, and hastily shutting his mouth. "Why should I tell you anything?" he asked. "You're not going to do anything. You're goody-goody Potter, the teacher's pet. Better put the wand away before you get in trouble."

Harry was momentarily glad that Jane wasn't here – she would probably have punched Draco by now (not that that wouldn't have been funny to watch). Then the feeling swiftly passed.

"Look, maybe you aren't getting this," Harry said. "At the moment, the last thing I care about is getting told off – even expelled. And I'm really not in the mood for anyone to get in my way. So can you just tell me?"

Draco hadn't been put in Gryffindor for a reason – he was a wimp. So he looked down at the floor as though that make this less embarrassing – and told all.


	25. The Fivesome

Thanks for the reviews

Thanks for the reviews! – I have loads, but I am going to try and make it to 200 …but I don't have that many chapters left, so review, people!!

**Oh, and just a quick question: do you think my summary is good enough? Like, do you think the story is better than the summary and I am losing readers because of it? Any suggestions for improvements welcome!**

**Chapter 25**

"Well, that was easy," Ron said in a tone of surprise as the threesome left the Great Hall – well aware of the numerous pairs of eyes staring after them.

"Mr Potter, just what do you think you are doing?" A teacher asked, as the three made their escape.

Harry groaned inwardly. It was Snape.

"What do you mean, sir?" Hermione asked, to Harry's surprise. "We're just walking."

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Don't be insolent, Granger. What were you doing using your wand outside of lessons?"

"I wasn't, sir," Hermione said innocently (and truthfully, too).

"I wasn't talking to you!" Professor Snape snapped. "I was referring to Mr Potter."

"I didn't use my wand either, sir," Harry said. "There's no rule about taking your wand out of your pocket, is there? Sir." he added quickly.

Snape paused, at a loss as to what to say. "I …er, well, Mr Potter …"

"No," Harry said. "There isn't. And as you have nothing against us, I suggest that you let us go, sir. Have a nice day!"

And he turned on his heel and strode off before Snape had a chance to realise Harry had been giving him cheek or to tell him off for it.

"Cool," Ron said, before realising that he had been left alone with Snape, and quickly hurrying off after Harry and Hermione.

But they hadn't got far.

"Harry!" someone else called, running after them from the Hall.

"What is it now …" Harry began, but he was cut off when he turned to see – of all people – Neville Longbottom, closely followed by Ginny Weasley.

"Harry, what is going on?!" Ginny cried. "You four come storming in here without an explanation and …no, wait, not four – three. Where's Jane?"

"She hasn't been here all day, has she?" Neville remembered.

"No, she hasn't and that's the whole point," Harry said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we have to go somewhere. There'll be plenty of time for explanations when we get back."

But there was a little nagging voice in the back of his head saying, "_If_ we get back. _If _we make it back."

"You can't just leave it hanging like that!" Ginny protested. "Where are you going? We'll come too, won't we, Neville?"

"Oh, uh, I really don't want to get involv …" Ginny glared at him. "Yes, yeah, we'll come too."

"You can't," Harry said flatly. "Where we're going …it's dangerous, OK?"

"Does this have something to do with Jane?" Ginny wondered. "It does, doesn't it? I can see it in your face. Oh my god, what's happened to Jane?"

"I …nothing, nothing," Harry lied, but it was obvious that no one believed him. "OK, you really want to know the truth? Jane's been kidnapped by Voldemort. Happy now?"

He turned to leave.

"Hey, wait!" Ginny called. "I'm coming too, remember?"

"Yeah, and me," Neville added, speaking for himself this time.

"Seriously?" Harry asked. "You still want to come? …no, you can't – I don't want you getting hurt. It's bad enough that Hermione and Ron are coming!"

"But it's less likely that anyone will get hurt if more of us come," Ginny said sensibly. "And it's more likely that Jane will get rescued."

Harry hesitated. Would he – _could_ he – let his friends risk their lives for the sake of _his_ sister? And similarly, could he risk not bringing as many people as possible to rescue his twin?

"All right," Harry said finally. "You can come. But be careful, OK?"

Ginny and Neville nodded. "So what happens next?" Ginny asked.

"We hijack the Knight Bus, of course!" Harry said.

There was a strained silence in which people tried to work out if they should laugh at this comment or not. Nobody did.

"I thought that was a joke!" Ron said. "It is, right? It is a joke? Harry? We aren't really going to …we are, aren't we?"

"Yes, Ron," Harry said. "We _are _going to hijack the Knight Bus."

"You're crazy, you know that?" Ginny said finally. "And I love it! Let's go!"

"So how do we get the Knight Bus to come?" Hermione asked.

Ron shrugged. "Harry's the expert."

Harry thought back to the first time he had even ridden on the Knight Bus. It had pulled up after he had accidentally held out his wand arm by the side of the road.

"OK, first we'll need to get to Hogsmeade," Harry said, thinking quickly. That was where the nearest roads were.

"Uh …this might be a stupid question, but …how?" Ginny asked.

"Secret passage," Harry said. He wasn't going to go into details – he didn't want too many people knowing about the Marauder's map. "OK, I'm going to go and get my invisibility cloak. Everyone else can go and grab stuff that we might need, and we'll meet …in the Gryffindor common room in …two minutes. Any later and we go without you."

Everyone nodded. No one argued that Harry was taking charge. It was right. It was his right.

Harry uncovered the Invisibility Cloak from its hiding place under a pile of robes. It wasn't a great hiding place but it worked. Wrapped the cloak was the Marauder's Map. Since everyone else was already in the common room – afraid to be left behind - Harry took out his wand and muttered the words to activate it.

The tiny dot that was Dolores Umbridge was, like many of the other teachers, in her office.

Harry stuffed it back in his pocket, satisfied, and ran down to the common room. The group made a suspicious-looking bunch. They were all nervously tense, not saying a word to each other.

"Ready?" Harry asked, not pausing for an answer. "Let's go."

He lead the way out of the common room, taking the now-familiar route to the statue of the one-eyed witch that concealed the hidden passage to Honeydukes and therefore Hogsmeade.

Ignoring the curious looks that he was getting from certain members of the group who had never seen this passage, Harry said, "dissendium" and tapped the statue with his wand.

Half-smiling (he wasn't in the mood to whole-smile) at the gasps of surprise, Harry stepped into the secret passage and, not stopping to check if the others were following, settled into a brisk walk.

The underground passageway was dark apart from five sets of wandlight, and the air smelt damp and stale. The passage twisted and turned for corner after corner, sloping gently uphill, then back up again – so gently that you wouldn't realise if it wasn't for the air getting colder and colder as they walked further underground.

It was a relief when they could come out of the passage into the relatively warm, bright atmosphere of Honeydukes' cellar. Everyone (even Neville!) had managed to keep up with the fast pace.

The shop was closed, so empty. Presumably, the shopkeeper had gone home for lunch.

Luckily, the door opened from the inside, so Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville had no trouble in walking out onto the main road.

Harry felt slightly guilty for leaving the shop door unlocked, but it would make it easier for when they (all _six___of them) returned.

"What now?" Neville asked.

"I hope I'm right about this …" Harry said, less than confidently. He stood nearer to the kerb and held out his right hand (with his wand clutched in it, just for good measure).

At first it seemed like nothing had happened. Then, with a screech of breaks mixed with a bit of wheel spin, the three-decker, violently-purple vehicle came flying towards them, swaying precariously. Bright gold lettering pronounced it to be "The Knight Bus".

"Well, here we go!" said Harry.


	26. The Knight Bus

You know you are crazy when you've always wanted to hijack a bus so as next best thing you write about someone else doing it

You know you are crazy when you've always wanted to hijack a bus so as next best thing you write about someone else doing it. I don't think that there will be anyone who can relate with me on this point, so I'll just shut up now.

Oh, and this chapter is not going to be a copout. I am actually going to describe the whole hijacking in full detail, and I am not going to skim over anything. I hope you appreciate that.

Chapter 26

The doors opened. This was it. They were actually going to hijack the knight bus. Harry stepped on first, leading the way for the others to follow suit.

"Harry Potter!" Stan Shunpike cried. "You've come back! Nice to see you again."

"I want you to take us to Malfoy Manor," Harry said, skipping the formalities. "Now."

"Well, we can't take you right this minute," Stan said uncomfortably. "There's people who've been here longer than you. But just pay your fares and we'll get going right away."

Harry could easily afford the journey - for him and everyone else. But he didn't have the time to wait, and that was where the hijacking bit came in.

"I'm sorry, Stan," Harry said, drawing his wand. "I really can't do that. I want you to drive us to Malfoy Manor now.

Stan swallowed nervously, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. He smiled weakly, staring at the tip of Harry's wand. "Uh, Harry, just ...just put the wand down, OK?"

For the first time, Harry realised that the few passengers already onboard were cowering in their seats, eyes wide with fear. A sense of overwhelming guilt came over him as he realised what he was doing to these people. He pushed it to one side.

"Just go," Harry told the driver, not lowering his wand.

The bus jolted into motion as Ernie put his foot down, and Harry and the others were thrown off balance. Stan took his chance and lunged for Harry's wand, twisting it out of his momentarily-loosened grip.

"Stupefy!" he cried desperately, but at that moment the bus swerved to the left and the curse hit the windscreen, shattering it.

Passengers screamed as the glass shards flew through the air. Ernie let go of the wheel to cover his face with both arms. The bus began to lose control and swerve crazily. Hermione dived for the wheel and started steering wildly.

The bus tilted dangerously as Hermione turned too sharply. Everyone screamed as two wheels left the ground. As Stan tumbled and fell, he let go of Harry's wand and it rolled down under two seats. Harry tried to catch it as it fell, but the action cost him his balance and he fell to the ground, cracking his head against the metal seat.

Ernie took the wheel from Hermione and, ignoring the blood trickling down his face from a cut down his cheek, swerved to narrowly avoid hitting two pedestrians.

The bus moved smoothly onwards, with Hermione's wand now at Ernie's throat. Stan stumbled to his feet to see Ron pointing a wand at him. "No more funny stuff, OK?"

Whilst Neville tried to reassure the hyperventilating passengers that "everything would be OK", Ginny bent over Harry. He was pale and unconscious and the back of his head was sticky with blood.

"Shit!" Ginny muttered. Being a year below the others, she didn't know any healing spells yet. "Hermione?"

"Yeah?" Hermione asked.

But just then, Harry's eyelids fluttered open. He winced at the throbbing pain in his head and his hand flew up. It came back covered in a dark red substance.

"Don't worry!" Ginny called back to Hermione.

Wiping his hand on his robes, Harry struggled to his feet - just as the bus came to a stop.

"Looks like we've arrived," Neville said nervously.


	27. The Manor House

Before I start, can I just mention that the first time I attempted this chapter, I typically didn't save my work as I went along (bad habit, I know). So I was almost at the end of the chapter when I finally went to close the document and save it. But being me, just after I had clicked 'X' and the window came up that says "Do you want to save?", I had a brilliant flash of inspiration and decided not to close my work just yet. But, being typically stupid and not-thinking (it _had_ been a looong day), I pressed "No" instead of "Cancel". And so I had to start again from scratch. I'm only telling you this because this chapter might be worse than normal because it is so boooooring writing something twice, and so I am putting no effort into this. Except the ending might be good. Because I haven't done that yet. So anyway. (I am saving every 5 seconds now. It's quite funny). Chapter 27

To say that Stan, Ernie and the rest of the passengers on the bus were relieved to see the backs of Harry and co. would be a serious understatement. The bus sped off into the distance like lightening as soon as the five disembarked. They were now left standing outside a huge pair of wrought-iron gates, with nothing around for miles except Malfoy Manor.

Now, anyone who has read Deathly Hallows will know exactly how to get through those gates. But unfortunately, neither Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny nor Neville had the benefit of being able to see into the future or mind-read. So they had to improvise.

Harry stood there as the other four debated ways of blowing up/breaking down the gates. He was using all his effort up in trying not to moan out loud or collapse with the pain of the wound in the back of his head. It was an intense, throbbing, _overwhelming_ pain that wouldn't, couldn't, be ignored – no matter how hard Harry tried.

Finally, Hermione said, "We could just settle for bending the bars, I suppose. That's an easy enough spell."

"Well why didn't you say so sooner?!" Ron cried in exasperation.

"I didn't hear _you_ suggesting it," Hermione said coldly. "Harry …are you OK?"

"Sure," Harry said. "Fine." But his pained tone betrayed his words.

"You should get that seen to," Ginny said in concern. "We need to get him to hospital, or something."

Ginny's words hit Harry like a slap across the face. Was he really going to stand here and let Jane stay where she was just so that he could have a little cut in his head treated? Was he really going to leave Jane in danger, possibly mortal danger? He hadn't come all this way just to fail at the first hurdle.

"No!" Harry said quickly. "Hermione, do your spell thing and let's get going."

"But-" Hermione began.

"I'm _fine_," Harry said, more firmly this time.

Hermione hesitated, looking at the trickle of blood running down Harry's neck. Then she turned back to face the gate and raised her wand. "_Flexo_!"

(Yay! Go me, I invented my own Harry Potter spell!!! Thanks to Google search and then some Latin translation site! Apparently "Flexo" is Latin for "bend". So yeah. Originally it was something different, because there was a choice of words, but Flexo is the only one I can remember and I can't be bothered to look it up again. I'm doing a brilliant job of remembering the original story, by the way. This is almost an exact copy. Time to save again!)

The bars of the gate that Hermione's wand pointed at began to bend under her concentrating stare until they were wide enough to accommodate a person.

Everyone stood for a moment, not wanting to be the first to move. Each of them realised that there might be more to this gate than just the iron bars. None of them knew what would happen if they tried to enter.

"Potters first, then," Harry said bravely. He stooped to step through the gap.

Everyone now stood on one side of the gate with Harry on the other; completely unharmed.

Suddenly everyone felt ashamed for being cowardly, for not volunteering to go first, for letting Harry risk it. They clamoured to be second to go through, as though that would somehow mean that they were at least braver than the others.

But finally they were all through, and Malfoy Manor lay ahead, no visible obstacles in their path. It was a huge place, as the name suggested. There were three floors and an attic, to judge by the number of windows. It was as wide as …about half as wide as a Quidditch pitch is long. The double front doors dominated most of the first floor in height. They wouldn't have looked out of place in a castle, to say the least.

All in all, it was an imposing sight, towering over them, casting a shadow over its long drive, and suddenly the teenagers felt rather small. Had they ever really had a hope of defeating _this_? There were only five of them, and they hadn't even left school yet.

Harry led the way, striding up the drive confidently (at least, he hoped he looked confident). He had his wand out now; his right hand hung by his side, his fingers clenching the wand, ready to use it.

Before long, they were at the doors. From this angle, the building looked even taller – _much_ taller.

"How are we going to open the doors?" Ron asked.

Harry thought for a minute, turning his wand round and round in his hand. Then he took the door handle and pushed, wondering how embarrassing this would be if the door didn't open. It did.

"Oh," Ron said, looking embarrassed.

Harry lifted his wand and the others did the same. Nervously, he pushed the door further ajar until it started to move of its own momentum. Everyone stood in the doorway, wands ready, scared expressions fixed on faces.

The hall inside was empty. There was no one there. Deflated by the anti-climax, people let their wand hands fall to their sides.

Stepping inside, Harry realised that he had seen this hall before – it was the one that had featured in his dreams. There was the same long table filling the room, the same high chair at one end.

So where was everyone? They were expecting Harry to come …

"Do you think they're gone?" Ginny asked. "Maybe they locked Jane up and left her here."

"No," Harry said. "No, they were expecting us to come. They wouldn't have gone out."

"Where are they then?" Ron asked. "Which way?"

There were three doors facing them, each leading away from the hall in their own separate directions.

"We could split up …" Hermione suggested, though she didn't look happy about the idea.

"No," Harry said, much to Hermione's relief. It was so frustrating – Harry knew what he should do but he couldn't _think_ – not properly, not when there was this stupid _pain_ in his head.

"OK, let's start with the left one," Harry said, picking at random.

The door was locked, but that came as no surprise. "_Alohomora!_" and the door clicked open. Unusually, it opened inwards, towards them. They stood, staring, at what they saw inside.

Harry had to stop himself automatically stepping forwards into the doorway. Because he couldn't have gotten any further. What filled the doorway was brick. The door opened out onto a brick wall.

"What the -" Ron cried.

"OK …let's try another door," Harry said.

They walked over to the next one. This time, the door opened outwards. Being more prepared for something …unusual, this time, it wasn't such a surprise when they found themselves looking at a corridor that seemingly had no end. You could see for miles and miles.

"Third time lucky?" Neville said weakly.

The third door was the strangest of all. It opened out into the sky. Holding onto the door frame, Harry leaned forwards – intending to look down and see if you could see land. But when he leaned forwards, his head went right through …whatever it was, and he could see the real corridor behind. It was all just an illusion.

"Looks like we just walk through it, then," Harry said, surprised at how easy it seemed.

Then he realised why it was difficult. Although he knew that the sky wasn't there, some instinct inside of him was screaming at him that he would fall and die. Gathering all his courage and thinking of Jane, Harry held his wand ready (although the corridor had appeared empty, things weren't what they seemed here), and stepped forwards.

To Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ginny, it seemed that Harry had disappeared into thin air.

"Harry!?" Ginny called. "Are you OK?"

There was no reply. Either the "sky" acted as a sound barrier too, or Harry had gone.

It was just as it had been at the gate. No one wanted to go. They all stood there, scared, ashamed that they were scared.

"Come on, are we Gryffindors or what?" Ginny said, breaking the awkward silence. Then she stepped forwards and disappeared after Harry. Hermione followed closely.

Neither Ron nor Neville wanted to be the last ones left behind, so they managed to step through at the same time, finding themselves now standing in a murky corridor with the others.

(Originally this chapter went on longer, but I am getting really fed up with writing this [sorry if it shows in the story] and I am going to stop here and continue the rest next chapter. Bye!)

(Oh, and also sorry for the long update – I have had clarinet and theory exams to practise for and there has been no TIME!)


	28. The Death Eaters Make an Appearance

**Chapter 28**

The feeling of tension grew as they followed the corridor round corners, not knowing where on earth they were heading. They could be going in completely the wrong direction, of course, but they wouldn't know until they got there …wherever "there" was.

Ron was humming nervously under his breath. "Shut up!" Harry hissed – his head was hurting badly enough from his scar and the cut, without Ron giving him a headache, too.

"Sor_ry_(!)" Ron muttered grumpily, the nerves getting to him. "Don't have to bite my head off …"

"In case you hadn't noticed, we're enough trouble here without you giving us all away …" Harry began angrily, but he was shushed by Hermione, who held a finger to her lips whilst holding her other hand over Harry's mouth.

Now that no one was talking, they could clearly here the sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor, and voices muttering.

"They should be quite close now," one of the voices said – clearly female.

"We don't even know if we're going the right way," said the second (male this time). "This is never going to work, we should've just ambushed them at the door."

"Are you doubting the instructions of the Dark Lord, Lucius?" demanded the first voice angrily.

"Of course not," Lucius replied, in a restrained tone. "Who are you to question my faith?"

"I am the Dark Lord's most faithful servant and you would do well to remember that, Lucius!" the woman snapped.

"Bella, calm down!" a third voice butted in. "Both of you, be quiet!"

Harry was briefly reminded of the recent conversation between Ron, Hermione and himself. But there was no time to think of that.

There was nowhere to hide and it was too late to look. Any second now, the three death eaters (for they were obviously Death Eaters) would walk round the corner and spot them.

As if on cue, three figures appeared round the corner and halted in their tracks. In the middle was Lucius Malfoy, and to the right of him was his wife, Narcissa. On the left was a woman that Harry immediately recognised from her photo – Bellatrix Lestrange.

**AN: Ditto previous chapter – the novelty of writing this fic is really wearing off so I am just going to suddenly stop here. If I keep doing this I'm going to end up with, like, a million chapters!**

** …wow, I just looked back. This chapter really IS short! 2 pages on Word, font size 12. I think this is my shortest ever. I'm sorry guys, I'd hate me too if I was you …wait, I just hit 3 pages. Woohoo!**


	29. The Story Is BACK!

CHAPTER 29 IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**Yes, sorry, I know I said this wouldn't happen but today I was in a REALLY good mood because …actually I don't know why because I have coffee all over my shoe (don't ask) and my worst subject next period …BUT I AM HAPPY!!! Then I got all your reviews saying "GRR" and "Oh, I'm so disappointed" and I remembered how much I hate people who don't finish their fics and I said "I will finish Family Trees!" (out loud so I got a lot of weird looks). So thanks to the three people who reviewed chapter 29 (which isn't a chapter) already because without you I wouldn't be bothering. Now I am going to get on with this before I change my mind … (and soz for messing you about like this)**

The three Death Eaters froze in their tracks as they saw Harry. There was a moment's pause, then everyone raised their wands almost simultaneously, as though it had been pre-planned. There was an explosion of light and noise, everyone casting their spells, aiming where they thought the enemy was through the wall of magic.

Harry couldn't tell, didn't know if anyone was hurt and there wasn't room in his head right now for worrying about that. There was no time for thinking – only his instincts and adrenalin were keeping him standing. He was running on autopilot, shouting out whichever spells occurred to him first.

Then suddenly his senses switched back on and he could see the people beside him, the menacing faces glaring at him. He found himself confronted with Bellatrix Lestrange, who didn't even look like she was _trying_. Her indestructible calm annoyed Harry more than the Malfoys' scowls and glares.

"Oh, give up now, Potter," Bellatrix taunted. "You're barely out of nappies yet and you think you can defeat _me_?"

Harry narrowed his eyes. _'Block it out, block it out' _his mind was desperately pleading with him.

"Aw, little Harry wants to save his twin, does he?" she continued, laughing.

Harry's mind gave up trying to calm him down and he blurted, "Cru-"

Bellatrix swept the spell away with a sweep of her wand. At least it had wiped the smile off her face. She snarled. "Is that the best you can do? You need to _mean_ them, Potter! If you ever want to see your little twinnie again …"

With all her concentration on teasing Harry, Bellatrix didn't notice the red jet of light heading towards her from another direction until it was too late. Her wand flew from her hand as Ginny sent "_expelliarmus_" at her. She made a desperate grab for it as it flew through the air but, with a practised wave of her wand, Hermione froze her in her tracks.

It was only now that Harry noticed the silence around him. He looked around at the others. They were all there: Ron, Hermione, Neville …Ginny had a smug little smile on her face as turned away from Bellatrix.

Lucius was tied up and appeared to have an awful nosebleed as well. And Narcissa Malfoy …was nowhere to be seen.

"She disapparated when we beat Lucius," Hermione explained, putting her wand away. But Harry kept his out. If the Death Eaters had come from this direction then they were going the right way. They were nearly there.

All right, it's short, but it's better than nothing, yeah? More coming soon.

**Hopefully.**


	30. The Rescue

OMG, sorry!!! I totally forgot I was still writing this fic. Oops. I do that a lot – forget stuff, I mean. I promise I will try and update sooner in the future.

**Chapter 30**

"Harry!"

Harry froze. "Did you hear that?" he asked. It had been Jane's voice – definitely Jane's.

"It was coming from over there," Ginny said, pointing to a door down the corridor on their left.

Harry turned towards where she pointed, but Hermione grabbed his shoulder and stopped him from walking.

"It might be a trap," she warned Harry.

Harry hesitated. "Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" He brushed off Hermione's hand and walked off.

"Hello? Anyone?! HELP!"

The voice called out again as Harry reached the door. Everyone else caught up and stood behind him supportively, all wary and tense.

"One, two, THREE!" Harry counted. On three, he turned the handle and pushed the door open.

There was a wooden chair in the middle of the otherwise-empty room. Jane was sitting …no, she was _tied_ to it, but that seemed to be the only thing stopping her from walking away. There were no guards, no Death Eaters, no Voldemort – nothing.

"Oh, thank God!" Jane said. She was pale and most of the left side of her face was bruised. "I thought you weren't going to come!"

Harry ran forwards and, common sense out the window, started tugging at the knots which tied Jane to her chair. Hermione sighed and said, "_Relashio!_"

Jane gave her a grateful smile and rubbed her arms where the ropes had cut into her skin. "Thanks," she said.

"Did they just leave you here?" Ginny asked suspiciously. "Weren't they expecting us?"

"Who cares?" Ron cried. "Let's just go! Now! Before we get caught!"

Jane and Harry fell silent, looking at something beyond the doorway, where Ron, Neville and Hermione still stood.

Slowly, all three of them turned.

"So, Potter, attempting a little rescue mission, were we?"


End file.
